It.

It.


Dark, uninviting.
Like a deep hole.
Cold
Colder than a freezer
Perturbing, and sickening.
A room as blank and confused as my stare in math class

There, in the middle of the concrete.
Black walls winding up out of the unseeing fog
Lies it.

It’s eyes stare.
It’s lips pressed into a grim line
It snarls
It breathes
In.
Out.
In
Out.


My soul bursts out of my chest
No screaming.
Just silent, silent tears.
But the tears scream, all on their own.
And It looks,
  It comes no closer,
But it looks at me.
Deep red eyes,
The smallest pupil of black
Straight in the middle.
In
Out
In
Out

I step back.
Blink.
My breath is a cloud of fog .
I try to Understand.
Why I’m here.
Because I came on my own.

Why? I ask myself
“To conquer”
My soul answers back.
And I swallow.

One step forward.
Bare feet on barren ground.
It doesn’t move.
Only its black chest, heaves up and down,
As It breathes.
In
Out
In
Out

Only feet away.
“Conquer” my soul whispers.
I inch towards it,
It gets colder and colder
“Conquer” my soul says, clearly
It gets Darker and darker.
“Conquer” my soul yells.

Only one step away.
And it stares.
And breathes.
Faster now.
In Out In Out
InoutInoutInoutInout

And as it breathes too fast for me to follow
I open my lips wide, and eat it whole.
Then I swallow.
And my soul is satisfied
Because I have conquered
I have conquered by swallowing my fear.

--Lauren Amaris