Tears.

Don’t let the tears fall.

Casting your glossy gaze to the crumbling artex, you suck in a shallow breath. You thought it would be easy to let your emotions out of the cage, space to be…

How wrong were you.

“Are you even listening? You aren’t- Look at you! Trying not to cry, again!”

How you wish they would lay a hand on you, rather than lashing you with their spiteful tongue.

“I told everyone that you would be the star of the show, the one who brings home the money, and you haven’t set foot outside since our wedding night. When was that?”

Shoulder curl inwards, protective of your sensitive soul, “T-t-two months ago.”

A rasped whisper, all you could persuade your larynx to make.

Minty nicotine puffs against your cheek, “T-t-two. Your speech is so eloquent, gee you sound like a stuck record! Why haven’t you been out earning like I told you too?”

“You,” You pause, unwilling to unlock your eyelids, “told me to kill someone.” Hissing out the poisonous words, you shrink away.

“I didn’t say kill! You need to listen, you oaf, I told you to eliminate. I don’t care how you do it, you just need to do it.”

They lean so far forward, you feel your oxygen supply deplete. Timidly, your chin dips in submission, only to be jerked back up by calloused finger tips.

“This is your last chance, or I swear I will make life harder for you. You don’t want to have to ask permission to do anything other than showering, or sleeping, do you?”

Embarrassment shades your cheeks, humiliation drops your eyes.

Snarled are the words that make you fold, “That’s what I thought. Now make sure this place looks spotless when I get back.”

“Whe-“

Your question dies, joining hope in the guilded coffin.

A place that looks to sanctimonious to those looking in, but a darkness inescapable for those trapped within.

Omnipotent echoings tell of their departure, as your tremble under your own shield. Arrows prick at the back of your eyes…

Tears.

Quivering lips taste the burn of winter’s beauty. A ghostly palm against the doorframe barely sustains the weight of regret.

Tears.

Renegade wisps tickle the creased worry around the eyes. Knees shift to catch another fallout.

Tears.

They will know of what you shed.

Don’t let the tears fall…