{"id":15838,"date":"2024-02-05T20:40:23","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T02:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/?p=15838"},"modified":"2024-02-07T03:13:41","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T09:13:41","slug":"replacement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/2024\/02\/05\/replacement\/","title":{"rendered":"Replacement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Replacement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mia Bonds<\/a> and Alexandria Knight<\/a>, Editorial Assistants<\/p>\n\n\n\n

__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The thing sleeping next to me is not my husband. It looks just like him. The same black [18 across] [3 down]<\/strong> with grey, the same moles forming [6 across]<\/strong> on its face. It sounds like him too, mostly. Voice low and rough like gravel, though it sounds rougher to me lately. My [7 down]<\/strong> grows. I see it in the slightest [9 down]<\/strong> of its demeanor, the monster that has replaced my [8 across]<\/strong> husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I noticed it first in the way it said, \u201cI love you\u201d. Not with adoration, but like it was [22 across]<\/strong>, trying to make sure I don\u2019t dig too deep. It steps out late at night, returning early in the morning. It comes home to me [17 down]<\/strong> and [15 across]<\/strong>-white, its [23 down]<\/strong> twitchy, its breath [21 down]<\/strong>. It has a [12 across]<\/strong> cough that it refuses to address. Not like my husband. My husband used to call the doctor for [24 across]<\/strong>. Now it dismisses my concerns with a wave of its hand and a handkerchief tight over its mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s losing weight now too. Whatever demon has taken over his body is turning him into skin and [1 down]<\/strong>. I [14 down]<\/strong> the day it takes him from me fully, this [2 down]<\/strong>. That day seems to be coming soon. In moments of weakness, I\u2019ve tried to touch it, feel my husband\u2019s skin again. It stops me every time, blames it on feeling [11 down]<\/strong>. But I see the real reason, the [16 down]<\/strong> ulcers leaking under his shirt. Some days I want to grab it and shake it, scream at the demon to go somewhere else, find another [25 across]<\/strong> to suck the life from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has taken to the spare room. Now my [5 across]<\/strong> feels [4 across]<\/strong>. This [13 across]<\/strong> figure constantly out of my eyeline. A violent impulse [26 across]<\/strong> If he\u2019s still in there, trapped in his own body by a [19 across]<\/strong> monster, is it not my responsibility to free him? And if he\u2019s not, if my husband is truly gone, am I to allow it to use him forever? I feel the knife [10 down]<\/strong> from my side, squeezed taught by the waistline of my dress. I knock. I knock again. I [20 down]<\/strong> nothing when it opens the door, presenting to it a warm smile, and hot plate of food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mia Bonds<\/strong> is an undergraduate at McNeese University in the Bachelor of English program, with a concentration in creative writing. She is serving as an editorial assistant for McNeese\u2019s Boudin <\/em>and as the editor of McNeese\u2019s The Arena.<\/em> She is dedicated to honing her writing skills so that she can entertain audiences with unique and inspiring Christian fiction stories after she graduates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexandria Knight<\/strong> is a student at McNeese State University where she is pursuing a BA in English with a concentration in creative writing. Outside of her studies, she can be found tending to her pet goldfish, Seymour, or playing the piano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

__________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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To learn more about submitting your work to Boudin<\/a><\/em> or applying to McNeese State University’s Creative Writing MFA program<\/a>, please visit Submissions for details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow us<\/strong>\u00a0on\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Replacement Mia Bonds and Alexandria Knight, Editorial Assistants __________ The thing sleeping next to me is not my husband. It looks just like him. The same black [18 across] [3 down] with grey, the same moles forming [6 across] on its face. It sounds like him too, mostly. Voice low and rough like gravel, though…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[196],"tags":[75,42],"class_list":["post-15838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-hybrid-this-is-it","tag-boudin","tag-hybrid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15838"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15844,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15838\/revisions\/15844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}