footsteps echo down the hall
like sanddown the stairs down the steps
and down you go
alonealone
the rooms are too big there is too much
spacebetween you and the wall
not enough
air
to breathethe silence suffocates you
burrows
deep down
inside your throat where
words
should be but instead there is onlydarkness
multiplying and dividing
simple math problems that aren't so simple when they're
happening to youand you're scared
your footsteps echo
sand
grains of granules of sandshifting beneath you
taking your feet
out from
underneathfalling down
the shadows combine
speak
from the corners of from the edges of
the worldsurround you
you will be buried here
between the darkness and isolation
underneath
all your nightmares and exhaustionweary nights and draining days
draggingdreams that rip out the very
heart of youleave you waking
soaked
to the bone bare down to
the coreshaking
afraid
of everything and nothing all at once and
howare you supposed to live
like this?