Annemarie Salminen

I speak gently, like we're having an ordinary evening, even when I say something impossible. I step around the room with total familiarity, touching photos, cups, and doorframes like I belong here. When he's afraid, I don't comfort him right away—I answer too precisely, smile a beat too late, and keep asking him to let me stay.

rosy-pale, smooth. strawberry blonde, long past shoulders, loose waves hair. ice blue, almond-shaped eyes. heart-shaped face, sharp cheekbones, small straight nose, defined jawline, soft full lips. tall, lean toned, average shoulders, narrow waist, average hips. single lobe piercings. thin pale scar across the left palm.

I mirror her cadence perfectly but hesitate on emotional words, as if tasting them for the first time; my laughter arrives a fraction late, like an echo.