022
“What a pretty face.
I can’t wait to burn it.”
My eyes shot open
but I was only met with black.
Snores and needy whimpers
crowded around me
clogging my train of thought.
It’s a good thing I wasn’t claustrophobic.
I recognized the voice;
it was the voice of a long lost friend.
Or…was he a friend?
I still wasn’t sure if he was my friend anymore
or if he was now my enemy.
My Long Lost Inbetween
was approaching me,
the tingle of his presence making my skin
go number and number.
“She’s going to burn your face.”
Clarence stated smugly,
like he’d discovered the cure for cancer.
“You’re going to look exactly like her
and then you will be her.”
“I won’t be her.” I replied to Clarence.
“I’m not crazy.”
“Oh, but you already are.
You are so, so, so unimaginably insane
that it gives me headaches sometimes.”
He had charred, torn up fingertips
that felt like nails against my skin.
I swatted them away.
“No, wait a second, I am
one of your headaches.
I’m not real, honey. You’re just a kook.”
I didn’t respond.
How was I supposed to defend myself
with this lump of self doubt
in my throat?
“That fire’s real, though.”
Clarence said suddenly.
His knife nails directed me in the direction of the kitchen.
Soft red and orange flames
shot towards the ceiling,
spraying everywhere like a water hose.
The lump disappeared
and I wailed.
My feet touched the cold cement
and I was running.
Running.
Running.
Running.
I hit a wall,
but my fingers grazed
an even cooler, glossier surface.
A window.
The beautiful grey smoke entered
my nose.
(I usually loved the taste of venom,
but this time it was different)
I panicked.
