Cobwebs cling inside the cracks of a few walls

Creating a line, a rope for me to follow

So I do

I step over sideways chairs, piles of dusty rags

I ignore the other doorways

Some o p e n ,

some closed

I refuse to look into them

Because they might try to pull me away

Off the path I was following

Or there might be a broken doll

Looking at me from the bed

(whether to save or, to harm, is irrelevant)

p

u

The webs in the cracks lead me

To the third floor

And a dead-end hall

At the very end, in the dark, blue-black light

Coming from walls with no windows

The door stood waiting for me

Made out of strange, fake? material

It didn’t look scary

Alone, but not lonely

A happy introvert in the quiet

Glad for a silent friend

Like me

When I put the key in

And turned the lock

Stepping over the threshold

I felt like I just walked into my own room

All alone in the middle of the floor

Surrounded by cracked walls

In a room void of dust

Sat a small, metal box

Behind it, a window

It glistens brightly

In the green-blue light of the room’s shadows

My bare feet silently cross the floor

And I rested my hands on the lid of the box

There was no shock

Or other strange sensation

It opened . . . e a s i l y

With no lock, or even a sound

They only thing laying inside

A, empty silver key ring

I took it, & though it felt cold, still, nothing happened

I was warry

It all seemed too simple

But I couldn’t stay still

When I turned to leave

I found a closed door

And I though I tried, I couldn’t get the handle to move

It had trapped me in here

I had already been in there too long, it seemed

Though hard to tell

As each place is different

I could see the walls beginning to crack

Black lines breaking through the seems

I had to get out

Can I break down the door?

NO

The walls are closing in

How could it have done this on purpose?

Why?

It wanted? me to get hurt

I was angry at it, then

How dare it

So as the room closed in, cracking around me

I opened the window– the one, outside, window

Stood up on the window sill

Looked down at the ground

Black asphalt three stories

below me

And back at the room turning to black tendrils behind me

I wasn’t falling into a nightmare tonight

I would fall to the ground first

If it wanted to keep me

It was going to have to catch me

Because I was going to avoid a nightmare

At all costs

I l e t g o of the window

And I was falling again

The sound of the man’s singing

Could no longer be heard

The rattling air conditioner

Had gone silent

I was all alone

With nothing but it to see me

As I hit hard, against the cold asphalt

Or, to save me

I felt everything s l o w,

suddenly

And I could hear myself take one, solitary, labored breath

Before it was all gone

It saved me

But now it was angry