(Before Today)

The shower is running above me, spitting water, each drop, breaking, smashing, smaller drops, falling out of control until as one, a flow,

Into the drain.

Each bead, following the quickest plane, the smoothest curve, the steepest surface, out of control, falling against the skin, until as one, a flow.

Wrap the water close, droplets like thread, a time lapse clothing, a transparent shimmer, a view obstructed. But a moment frozen,

Naked.

Watched.

The shower curtain thrown back. Black shadow. Greedy eyes.

Curious?

Huddled in the corner, covering my body.

He shrugs and shakes his head but his image doesn’t move.

Eventually he leaves and it’s eventually still before I realize he is gone.

* * *

We will burn everything down, you will be in the middle, huddled and alone,

And all you will have left

Is you.

* * *

He’s standing outside. He standing not twenty yards from my window and he’s looking at me and he’s not moving, just standing there, arms hanging at his sides, no flare of a cigarette, no casual lean with his hands in his pockets to make himself more comfortable. His legs are locked. His head is low. He’s watching me. I am the only thing in his world right now. I am naked, I am caged.

A hand against the glass. Face first against a shining light from behind. A mirror to my eyes.

* * *

“He’s still out there. He’s watching me. He’s still watching me. You have any idea who he is? Any way to make him shove off? Or are you only good for keeping a place homey and interfering in conversations between new friends?”

There is only silence. Silence is his language. Silence is all I know.

“So sing,” he says.

* * *

There is no light. The power is still out in my apartment. I stare out the front window and see the lights along the neighborhood, street lamps aglow, front porch lights on, a welcome, kitchen windows lit.

It is only mine that is dark.

Turn a light on inside, blind and bind the caged.

Keep the lights off. Please.

* * *

Help me.

Do nothing.

* * *

There’s a knock on the front door and I answer it.