HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Birthday.

Birth-day.

Birth. Day.

Day of birth.

Day of becoming.

Day of growth.

Day of endings.

A day of death.

A day of closing one door ; Opening the next.

That old you is dead now.

They don’t exist anymore.

Shed and discarded.

A thin papery husk.

Whisked away in the softest breeze.

Congratulations!

You have another ghost.

You survived another year!

You didn’t die!

...

She is me.

I am her.

She stares with cold hollow eyes,

I return her gaze.

She is me,

And I am her.

She waits.

Submissive.

Resigned.

Composed.

As she ponders my touch.

She is me,

And I am her.

I am malleable.

I change and shift.

Bending at the softest caress.

The lightest brush of finger tips.

Features twist and distort.

She is me.

And I am her.

She holds my gaze.

And I hold hers.

We u...

The coffin is ornate in its design. A sleek and shiny walnut adorned with golden accents.

A single shoelace holds the coffin shut, indistinguishable from my own.

It could be my shoelace, for all I know. I threw those shoes away.

Along with the rest of my clothes from that night.

A sick notion.

A perverted and twisted wit.

A reminder that digs ragged claws into already torn and damaged flesh....

We all burn out.

Eventually.

We burn bright.

We are transcendent.

Drivin by golden flames of passion.

Flames that hungrily lick the soles of our feet,

Warming us from the inside out.

We burn bright.

We are magnificent.

A sight to behold.

Potential to be ignited.

But.

We will run out of fuel.

Eventually.

All beautiful things come to an end.

Everything runs it’s course.

Eventually.

Eventuall...

It’s everywhere.

Seeping into cracks and folds ,

staining satin sheets,

angelic swaths blooming crimson.

Leaving me marked.

Stained.

Tainted.

I beat my hands against my head.

Hoping against all odds to shake myself out of this nightmare.

No such luck.

I’m still here.

I slap my hands against the blemished wall in frustration and despair.

Burn them in scalding water.

Freeze them with cold.

The...

They were old shoes,

Tattered and battered.

Beat up and stained.

Loved.

A woman’s shoe, sized nine.

Converse, a dusty practical grey.

Secrets inked into the souls.

Stitched into the seams.

Paint splattered.

A rainbow of beautiful chaos.

Laces torn and frayed.

But they still do the job.

Shoes who have walked a thousand miles,

Ready to walk a thousand more....

“You hide! I’ll seek!”

“Don’t move no matter what.. Promise me!”

That’s what she said.

I must be good at this game.

I don’t know how long it’s been.

My back aches, but I don’t dare move a muscle.

I want to win.

I have to.

Otherwise it’s all for nothing, and I can’t have that.

I hear heavy thudding footsteps,

I don’t allow myself a breath.

I clasp clammy hands over my mouth, holding back a gigg...

We shadows are fickle creatures.

With wavering and shifting features.

Staying static.

It’s causes a panic.

We don’t like staying put,

Yet in the darkness we stood.

Banished to the inky black.

Always pushed back.

Forgotten.

Fallen.

No more.

We swore.

We cut ourselves free.

We flee....

I watch.

Time passes.

I grow rough

I grow cracked.

Time doesn’t stop.

A relentless beating against my back.

Leaving me bruised.

Scarred.

Marked.

Marred.

I crumble.

And I am hungry.

Ravenous.

Starved for love,

Affection,

Attention,

Anything.

I crave recognition.

Recognition that I am real.

I am here.

I exist.

I am cursed to stay static,

Stay quiet,

Stay invisible.

All I can do is watch...

_Thump_!

“What was that?!”

_Thump, Thump, Thump!!_

Charlie looks up from his phone, eyes blurred in boredom.

“What was what?” He drawls.

_Thump! Thump! Scritch…_

“That!!!!” I whisper shout, voice scratching the back of my throat.

“Oh.” He looks disappointed and glances back at his phone. “I thought something exciting had finally happened…”

_Thump!_

Goosebumps rise on the back of my n...