Waterless

t h r e e

With all distractions I am chained down.

M i n a   E r r i n g

is my name, and I am branded with bruises and burns that he has marked me with.

Without me he had no trophy, no one to banter about, no one to practice his rants and hits on.

I
a m
         i n
              c h a i n s

As long as I live, nothing will ever change that.

A r r o n   H u n t

The dragon guarding the tower, the troll under the bridge. When we first started dating, I was stumbling blindly through a maze of thorns, trying to reach a meadow.

First I thought his hand slipped while he was drunk, and when I woke up the next morning, cheek painted black and blue, I wanted to be right.

But then he was drunk more often than not, and I was running out of scenarios to tell the doctors in the ER. What could I say? When you were sober you regretted it most of the time, although on the others you blamed me.

You made my stomach churn with disgust.

When you felt guilty you would sit beside my bed and hold my hands in your own-

You made me hate myself

-kiss them and mumble how much you loved me, praying that it would be enough to make me stay.

It only made me hate him more. It made me want to roll over and over again, ignoring him for a lifetime.

He would never let me get away with it.

One night I came into my apartment, my sanctuary, and saw you sprawled on the couch, bottle in one hand, glock in the other.

I knew you heard the lock turn, the door creak open, but I didn't think you were sober enough to know what it meant.

You hailed yourself up, asked why I was late, then dropped the bottle carelessly.

I remember that as the night where I didn't know whether or not you were going to shoot me.

I wouldn't soon forget.