blades of sound slice through his heaving chest, an echo of the poetry that flays and filets, consternation and chills running down his spine, across his face, raw emotion and buried truth

her words filled his mind

lit a fire inside of him

and as he lay on the cusp of giving up

her words rang out and called him

home

the flames ran up and down his arms, he stood stone still, as shades of blue and white licked and his skin bubbled and popped, it didn’t register, meant nothing to him in the slightest

he read and reread every line

wishing it was about him

knowing they were not

that home was just another dream untrue

a familiar lie

his foot pressed down hard on the accelerator, his hands tied the blindfold sloppily, difficult with his hands cuffed to the wheel, his lips sewn shut with barbed wire, tiny beads of blood down his chin