Familiar

Eyes startled open
A loud ringing somewhere

Blink
Catch your breath
Blink again

A flash through the haze
The painfully bright screen
Of an abandoned phone

It's 5 pm
Dark, bleak and silent
Familiar

Wasn't this the place you just escaped?
Maybe you're still dreaming
Maybe you're still there

Pinch yourself
Groan
It's reality alright

Not much different than your dreams
Fear, insecurities, monsters
They follow you here too

Conniving bunch
Shapeshifters, you call them

Your throat's tight
As you hug the pillow close
You can't seem to escape it
Maybe you even like it

It doesn't seem to matter
Eyes open, eyes close
You always end up there
So why open them at all?

A drawn out breath
Escapes your open mouth
The sound somewhere between
A wail and a content sigh

Your eyes flicker shut
On your last thought

Give in
It's too tiring anyway.

Prying Eyes

Hidden lies, guilty secrets
A night of prying eyes discovered

Face went white, heartbeats quickened
As Pandora opened her box

Confrontation never looks pretty
This one had an ugliness never seen before

Words danced about, angry and unrestrained
But the soul weakened with each utterance

What do you know,
The truth ain't pretty either

The circle of trust fades away
In its place is now a big blotch of doubt

The prying eyes are just tired now
The guilty secrets, just mistakes

What's left?
A dull ache
A hollow of other words that were swallowed
No hate. No love.

Isn't that just fair enough?
The prying eyes got just what they deserved.