Stephanie

           I sit up inside of the darkness, I am unsure how much time has passed now. The bandages around my ribs ache with dry blood that sticks to my flesh. I scoot my legs as I cry out in agonizing pain, I reach for the part of my knees that feel swollen and bruised. Sharp wood sticks have chipped inside of my bones. My throat clenches as I am struggling to inhale to breathe, my chest sucks in tight air and sobbing inside of a turnabout panic has become unavoidable.  

      I must be quick, before I am captured and placed back into the box, they kept me in. I am struggling to rip off pieces of the unwashed bandage, and plucking the sticks out of my bones, I will need to find a pond or a river shortly amongst my trails. At the moment it is still dark, and the seasons have changed since the last time I had fallen asleep, I will need to hurry since I am escaping on foot, it won't be long before I am found and all will be lost, all of this will have been for nothing. I might as well fall back asleep as I hope to God, send a life to me without torture to where I may sleep without the promise of the storm to this I may never wake. 

     If I thought life was hard, it just became harder, and I will have to fight to get back up. My head is not prepared but my hands are jumping to scratch out their throats. My nails have grown sharp, my legs twitch as I move and my neck cracks, it leans to the side as I walk. This is what happens when you let sadness take over you, when you have trusted the enemy, and when you have been thrown into this monstrous place. 

    You must understand that I am trapped inside of this treacherous place, and now that I am unbonded, I am still not completely free. The day was lightly crisp; however night has fallen, and my toes are frozen as they are bit from the snow. My tears stream into icicles that I must rip off my face. The beauty that I once carried has heartbreakingly been replaced. My long nails claw my skin as they drag until my wounds are open. My head rings in alignment with the large loud chiming bells. Just as I think this is it for me, the angels swoop near my sides, they have come to pull my aching legs to the ground, and I have continued to keep walking.  

-Micah Vincent