rats

Sit, think. Come on now. Knit my fingers into knots, teeth press sharply into lips. I can feel you; I know you’re in there. Press a little harder. Push my fingers through my temples, force the point. I heard you last night, scratching round and scraping out. You kept me up half the night with [...]

the long way

Lean forward, breath held. Will I survive the fall? It seems colder up here, the air thinned and stretched. Inhale sharply between clenched teeth, eyes narrowed into slits. I didn’t think it would come to this. A stone gargoyle leers suggestively, cold lips chiselled into a perpetual sneer. Everything is fast and slow all at [...]

swallowed, hollowed

There’s a snake in my belly. Wrapped tightly in upon itself, nestled in the tiny space between my intestines and my heart. I can look down and see the odd bulge it makes when it turns itself around, cat like, getting more comfortable on my pillowy innards.
I’ve slowly gotten used to its dry skin, the [...]

insectoria

There’s a monstrously large, black, hairy-legged spider crawling out of my ear. I’m sitting as still as possible, suppressing the urge to scream as first two, then four, then more legs blindly explore the contours of my earlobe, cheekbone and hairline. Stroking in a way that is more sinister than tender, these legs take their [...]

just until the end of the chapter

armchair worn down in all the right places
corners of blanket curled around tongue like and hugging
pillows precisely placed
quiet, oh so quiet
and still
bubble of lamplight moored to the windowsill
the clock ticking
2, 3
the pages turning
2, 3
the years passing
2, 3
old friends stacked up in dusty corners
I remember when

no words

I love you. The words scratch like dry leaves scuttling across your drive way concrete.
I miss you. Sighs collect under your living room sofa.
I need you. Feelings stacked neatly in your over filled bookshelf.
You are dying. Scrawled across your face. Held in your hands. Lodged between my teeth.
You are in pain. Hung on your protruding [...]