House of Mirrors

by Sidra M. Said

Hollow hopes:
I find no solace in your company. I look at you with eyes seeking comfort but find none. Your gaze
does not falter as I scream in outrage, hoping against hope that for once, I might tempt you to relieve me
of the burdens I have silently shouldered for an eternity. Longing for a compassion which the thought of
repulses me, yet my skin yearns for its touch.

Mind tricks:
Your voice whispers venomous thoughts into my brain, poisoning the blood that runs through my
veins, crushing my spirits with frigidity and suffocating my voice till every word out of my lips falls flat,
void of passion or merit.

Asystole:
My heart no longer beats with the optimistic rhythm of a wide-eyed child filled with wonder. Wrapping
my hands around naked wires will not charge me with the strength I require to vanquish you, for you have
shocked me into submission from within. Wrapped your deadened palms around my heart, engulfed it in
darkness, imprisoned me in its empty chambers of dread and confusion.

Loss:
Have you no remorse? How could you so effortlessly abandon me in the labyrinth of fear and selfloathing
you have so craftily engraved into my soul?
Never had I learned to bear the wretchedness of solitude and segregation; for your incessant mockery had
never before left room for my own thoughts.

Salvation:
The silence is so obscenely deafening I cannot register the nature of the sound that has managed to
filter through. Weak. Sporadic. Persistent. Determined.
Melodies of long-forgotten whims and dreams reverberate through every cell of my being. A voice rising
into song breaking balls and chains. A voice that shall no longer be stifled by your malice. A voice whom
I alone command.

As I wrench my eyes from your gaze, I feel the last chains slip off my wrists and onto yours. And there
I shall bind you.
In a House of Mirrors.
Maimed. Broken.
Forever, a Reflection.