SAINT OF PARASITES I took ill and was confined to a bed in the furthest wing of the local hospital. My health worsened as I spent my time alone save the occasions when a visitation would wake me from fitful dreams. A wan figure would enter, passing down between the rows of empty beds towards me, flanked by two monastic attendants each holding up the lengths of her vestments to prevent them trailing on the floor. My body seemed to shift and stir on its own accord in response to her presence. "My dearest." she would say in hushed tones that seemed to emanate from within my own ears.

"Fear not, I will be with you always, till the day that you die."

The squirming sensation inside me increased as though hanging on her every word. "I only ask what any devoted lover would. Everything you have left you share with me."