T finally shut behind
the discrepancies,
to merge.
And unbuttoned the miseries
So peace could pierce.

Her chest felt bare
and naked from the inside.
The pumping heart stopped and skipped
but held on to its walls gripping tight.
T could’ve fainted,
but not today.
Today was the day for a mud bath.

T saw the light with her own eyes.
So much illuminescence after so much dark.
T didn’t flinch or crinkle,
but looked at the sun in the eye.

T stepped out,
and saw them.
The people.
the chaos,
The commotion that seemed to blur out the morning light.
The unstructured roars,
that felt like head banging rock concerts.

The moving dummies.
Those walking pets.
The skeleton girls with their hand-life companions.
T stood there as they barked their hollow laughs,
and looked at her in passing scrutiny.

A girl in a corner prickled her eye,
When she saw her on a worn out wall of this maze
With an erect spine and a bent lolly,
ragged shirt and her pants dirtily jolly.
Her eyes prickled with T’s too.
With her tongue stuck and statued on her candy.
They stood there – frozen.

She like a warm old coat,
and T like a sinking boat.

T took a step back in her two inched heels.
Breathed in a bolus and heard it go deep.
T took a U-turn.
As she gained a momentum,
and she ran,
terrorized.
Paced, horrified.

T ran and her thuds were joined by another pair,
Her steps mingled with someone else’s in a rhythm of despair.
T wouldn’t look over her shoulder.
She just couldn’t.
A shadow approached her as she ran.
Her tongue tasted metallic as she swallowed fear.
She felt her seeping breaths burn one by one.
As she felt the cold encroachment crawling up her back.

She ran until she had come so far,
as much that the city came to an end.
The cliff breathed.
The cacophony muted.
And the broken bridges smiled.

She collapsed on her knees.
With repenting breaths,
Rueful.
Apologising to self.

Her ears stood alert like a wolf,
as she heard the footsteps once again,
faint but growing loud.
The taste of metal lingered back to her tongue.
This time, she looked back.
If at all, she would jump.

The footsteps approached T.
The wind carried to her a smell, something sweet,
mixed with that of wild cats and sand.
The girl stood in front of her,
and extended her hand,

“Candy?”