The night found me again. It always does. Same cracked streetlights, same ghosts in the windows ,and that same voice ...hers. “You’re still walking, huh? Thought you’d be done by now.” “Yeah… well. Thought you’d be prettier.” She stepped closer, her cold fingers lingering on my skin, her stench penetrating the darkness. “You look tired. You’ve fought too long. Just rest, darling. Let me take the weight.” I lift my chin and glare, eyes burning with fire and life. “I have laughed in the face of death as she caressed my soul with fetid breath I told that bitch, ‘I ain’t got no time to rest ’She said, ‘Girl, I’ll stop that cadence in your chest.’ [laughter]Hahaha ha! give it your best.” [laughter]Hahaha ha! give it your best.” You think I don’t remember every hand that hurt me? Every voice that said “You’ll never make it out alive”? Oh, I remember! And every scar I wear is just proof that I did. “You think pain makes you holy? You think scars make you free?” “No,” I whisper. “But they make me me.” She circles me, smoke and shadows, eyes like knives... but there’s fear behind them now. Fear on her face and rage is my bait! “You can’t run forever, girl. Everyone bows to me in the end.” Its probably beautiful in the way broken things can be. [Protagonist trails off as if in thought] “Maybe.But not tonight.” See, I’ve met your kind before...in their fists, in their lies, in the mirror when I wanted to die. You wear a thousand faces, and every time, I still find mine. “You can’t fight me with words.” “No,” I say, “but I can outlive your silence.” I have laughed in the face of death, as she caressed my soul with fetid breath. I told that bitch, “I ain’t got no time to rest. ”She said, “Girl, I’ll stop that cadence in your chest.” [laughter]Hahaha ha! give it your best.” Hahaha ha! give it your best.” And maybe one day, when the lights go out for real, I’ll see her again. We’ll sit beneath the ruins of the world and talk like old friends. She’ll ask, “Was it worth it ... all that pain?” And I’ll smile, tired and unbroken... “Every damn second.” “Every single one”
