wavering courage falters, a

weakness found – prod, poke

till the resistance waves, breaks

when the pummels of heavy fist

non stop lead to breakage.

the driver’s seat gets usurped,

and who goes there? a face well known,

from a long time ago. prod, poke

the boy collapses on the ground

with torment, anguish, wails and whips

as the boogeyman unravels the mind,

turns love ones to nemesis, turns hope

to decay – my cute bunny got her back broken

by the unruly neighbor.

mother locks me up in the store room, completely

dark, then dies.

the doctors said it was stress,

turned out to be cancer –

i don’t remember anything happening

to those doctors who failed

in their job.

the pendulum swings,

i must not forget.

and every little wrinkle

becomes another catastrophe,

who goes there?

and found myself speaking to desolation,

my echoes came back

multifold.

a sneeze, a cough, a typo, a misremembered

memory: altered reality

pokes, crushes resistance, relentless

onslaught

till a walk, a breath, lunch time

becomes torment, misguided

by a driver’s face

and he looks like mom.

why didn’t you help me?

and then i the car went at high speed

towards a cliff: control, control

i kept repeating

but i was not in control.

press do breaks, do something,

and tried to pry apart

the hands wrapped around those wheels.

i don’t want to go there.

found inertia, speed limit gone past,

what is it going to be this time? i could hear

his words, from his mind – mocking.

i tried to stop my racing thoughts,

not again; and he smiled like my rabbit

shrieked, warped creature caressed my face.

don’t worry,

it would all be over soon.

the waves rushed to the walls,

my walls –

stop, stop. they went on, they attacked,

they were many hands, many tendrils, many

heart shifters, mind readers

altering.

and i stared into the mirror,

found a driver’s face not mine

grinning. soon he said.

what could go wrong?

Everything.

and that is when the car fell over the cliff,

the waves rushing up

to embrace.