Blood

I watch as the water turns a candy-pink. I know it will leave a faint stain on the porous porcelain sink. But that’s ok. When she comes up to my room one morning and asks about it, I will simply tell her that it was a failed attempt to turn Renee’s raven locks neon pink. And for a moment the bleak, burned=out look will fade from her beautiful gray eyes and she will smile and comment on about the strange things teenagers do, happy that I have those little moments of normalcy. And for a moment we will both forget the monster downstairs. But tonight the screaming and begging and crying continues, and I bleed.
The scars have faded some and the bruises have been gone for three years. But the wounds on the inside remain, open and unhealed. He’s gone now locked up in prison, like the animal he is. But his confinement came at a steep price- her life.
And now, you are still nowhere to be found. You never came back for me. You broke your promise. And I still bleed, where scars will not grow.
I got your letter to day. The letter from you. I just sat and stared and stared at your last words and realized you didn’t come back because you couldn’t. You couldn’t vanquish the monsters in that god- forsaken country, any more than you could vanquish the one here. And I bleed anew.
Four years, seven months, and three days. I’m free. I’m going home. I’m going to confront the demons and fill the grave that nearly buried me. One day I’ll come see your grave in the distant desert, I’ll find it even if no one else can. And I’ll bring you a rose from her grave. And I will heal