Time sips slowly, on the invisible fluid of my soul.  I sit, and sit, and sit… trapped in a  concrete belly.   Cold metal teeth close tight , close forever.  Smiling under a small one way door.  I am swallowed. The quiet blanket of night holds my screaming mind.  No one is calling out for me as the world sleeps.  I am forgotten, left only with the memory of my deeds to keep me company.  One spark in my mind,  exploded in a moment. 17 raged seconds traded for a lifetime.   I close my eyes, the theater of my mind is covered in blood, while the orchestra plays only the wails of the dead.  I open my eyes hoping the walls will spasm all around me and digest me.  Finish me.  The bars hard bite hold. Silence.  I wait.  My broken mind trapped in a welded skull, kicks and scratches the walls.  Looking down at my fingers I see dusty concrete under my broken nails.  I slide my shoes off wet socks.  My broken toes throb under caked blood.  Time sips slowly.

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Copyright © 2017 Zachary W. Gilbert