SUNRISE OF THE BUTTERFLIES

COLD NIGHT

The breeze was harsh against my face, skin prickling, fingers going numb. How much longer must we have to endure? I can't tell if this is excitement or desperation, a need for adrenaline crawling through my veins. It sneaks up upon me, wrapping its bony, cold hands around my neck, whispering sweet nothings from behind my ear.

I hardly noticed the pain, the feeling of a hammer landing on my bones, not quite breaking, but nothing close to being unscathed. When I looked above me, to the hand raising the tool above my head, your eyes shone like the North Star, guiding me with all of its light. When you smiled and hit me once again, it felt like my deepest desire had come true, I had been blessed, the heavens had listened to me.

It was nothing like before, where we were happy, no intentions hidden behind our eyes, no lurking suspicions. But I had no time to long for those days, you were upon me again, slithering under my skin, ripping me to shreds. The blood that coated your delicate fingertips was dark; it tasted sweeter than you had ever been.

Before I knew it, I was encased in a sac of Hunger. It grabbed me by the wrists and showed no sympathy for the blood flowing from my wounds. It bit my lip, slimy skin pressing against my face. Hunger, I decided, would kill me before you came close.

Blinded by Hunger, with her bones poking from her muddy skin and her rotted teeth, I tore into what was in front of me, flesh stuck under my nails. I bit into the skin, desperate for something to satisfy me, desperate for this feeling to end.

My tears fell onto a corpse, the picture-perfect you who had hurt me first. I knew it already, you wouldn't be coming back. How violent we had become towards each other, crying for it all to end, crying for our wounds to heal.

But they would never heal, not even in death, not even as Hunger devoured the meat off of your bones, not even as Hunger looked at me with bittersweet black eyes. We would never heal, and we would never be forgiven for our sins.

As Hunger nibbled on my ribs, I was glad that at the very least, we both came to an end.

[s.] look at the distance between us, how far we've fallen apart.