hollow hazel
DREAM
I used to believe I could be better.
There was a moment, brief, trembling, where I held a child’s hand and didn’t let go.
Where the world slowed, and I saw myself not as I was, but as I wanted to be.
But then I blinked.
And the moment was gone.
And I was still me, still broken, still pretending not to notice the wreckage in my wake.
NIGHTMARE
You always chase light like it owes you something.
But even shadows cast by goodness stretch long behind the hurt.
You call it love, what you do.
I call it forgetting.
DREAM
Tell me I’m a good person.
Please, just say it once.
Even if it’s a lie.
Even if it doesn’t matter.
I just need to hear it.
I need to believe I haven’t ruined everything.
NIGHTMARE
You were trying.
Sometimes that’s not enough.
But it’s all we ever have.
Go ahead, ask again, if it helps.
DREAM
I’m a good person.
Right?
(Blackout)
wintry lake