In a heart-shaped box

A mother keeps her children’s teeth

Who’s cries had once stole her from sleep

As they blossomed like a thorny rose

In teenie tiny pearly rows

One by one they wiggle free

Like paper boats drift off to sea

Just when the hugs turn into squirming

And their words begin hurting

Even if they don't understand

Why you keep their teeth in your nightstand

Because certain things have to fall out

What's that all about?

Who are we when no one is watching?

Who am I when there’s no one to impress?

Are we all just the worst versions of ourselves,

held together by the conscience in our chest?

And what if everyone went away,

and the only one watching was you

What good is a good person without people?

I think you’d be a little wicked too

Who am I when the curtains hide me?

Who are we when eyes have turned away?

Perhaps some thing are better hidden

I worry it we knew, we’d scare ourselves away

Somebody check on her, I think

She’s clumsy in the head

If she's left alone, I think

She’ll wonder if she's dead

She's waiting, I think

To be loved to death,

But maybe death loves her most

She’s either running in circles

Or she's already out the door

She's lonely, I think

Or she's nothing at all

Sinking, or sunk

Her world is too small

She’s living in Pandora’s box

You shouldn't tear the seal

Just incase you open it up

And there’s nothing left to steal

He heard knocking on his door, and he set down his tea.

“Quint Extermination and Delivery service.” The large man spoke. His uniform, two sizes too small.

“Oh, what do you deliver?” Elmer asked, out of curiosity.

“Good service.” The man replied, stepping into Elmer’s mudroom.

“Thats good to hear, I’ve got quite the pickle down here.” Elmer began, guiding the man to his basement.

“I think it might be mice.” Elmer said, gesturing towards his basement walls.

Dried blood painted the drywall, dripping maroon letters read:

FEAR US

The man tilted his head, adjusting his glasses to read the foreboding message.

“I don't think mice can spell.” The man suggested, pulling a notepad out of his back pocket.

“I suppose you're the expert.” Elmer scratched his head.

“Have you seen any mice around?” The man questioned, clicking his pen.

“No, but I’m pretty sure they sacrificed a pig down here last Tuesday.”

“What makes you say that?”

“There was a pig sacrificed down here, last Tuesday.”

“I see.” The man scribbled something into his notepad.

“I think that’s where they got the blood from.” He tells the man.

“What make you say that?”

Elmer points to the left wall, where bloody letters spell out:

WE GOT THIS BLOOD FROM THE PIG

“I see.” The man commented once more.

“They also organized my winter linens.” Elmer mentions. Gesturing to the neatly folded knits that sat on a high shelf.

“That’s rather unusual.”

“I think they felt bad about the pig.”

The man quickly writes something down in his notepad, before turning to face Elmer.

“I don't think you have mice.” The man says.

“Then who's my eating all my cheese?” Elmer asks, bewildered.

”Perhaps you have.”

“I hadn't thought of that.” Elmer admits.

“I believe your basement has been infested with Trubbles.” The man announces.

“I’ve never heard of those. How do you get rid of them?” Elmer asks.

“I'm not sure, I've never never heard of them either.” The man replies.

“Well, then how do you know what they're called?”

The man gestures to the right wall, stained red with the words:

WE ARE TRIBBLES

“Oh, I hadn't noticed that.” Elmer states, examining his wall.

“Perhaps I should call my boss.” The man suggests.

“What for?” Elmer asks, rubbing a knick on the wall with his sleeve.

“I don't think I’ll be coming into work tomorrow.”

“Why is that?” Elmer turns to face the man, who is now being tied up by small dwarves.

“I am being tied up, by small dwarves.” The man explains.

“Yes I can see that.” Elmer responds.

“Why are you tying him up?” Elmer asks the little creatures, currently binding the exterminator.

One of the dwarfs points to the back wall.

Bloody letters spell out:

WE EAT HUMAN FLESH

“Well that explains it.” Elmer mutters, “I really ought to pay better attention to these things.“

The small creature shrugs.

“I’d offer you some cheese instead, but it seems I've eaten it all.” Elmer explains.

The dwarf gestures towards the ceiling, where bloody words stare down at Elmer:

WE’RE LACTOSE INTOLERANT

“Well this is starting to get embarrassing.” Elmer admits.

He turns away as the little trubbles begin to eat the man.

“I suppose I better alert the authorities.” Elmer thinks aloud.

The small creature who Elmer decided must be the ringleader, hands him a small business card from under his hat.

It read: Truby’s Body Removal and Lawncare

“I’m not sure how I feel about hiring you, given the circumstances.”

The creature pulls a coupon out from under his shoe and hands it to Elmer.

”Oh alright.”

She left the car.

The car with a broken windshield and a bloody dashboard.

Her husband, the only passenger left. Lying there staring with lifeless eyes, at life in the eyes.

She left the car.

Her feet dragged her own body. The empty street stretched on for a lifetime.

Her arms reached out to touch the end, but all she found were endless miles of a pitch black river, tugging her down it’s current.

She left the car.

Her phone sat useless, now, on the seat.

Two percent, three numbers, four words.

“Help him,” and then again, because no other words made sense.

Frozen hands, melting lights, blues and reds collide. They had come. Help him.

Her legs let go, as she pleaded with the strobing colors. She sunk into the ebony asphalt.

Red, Blue, Red, Blue

Help me.

Hope leaked through the trees and struck her in the chest.

The longing suspense acted as a lifebuoy for her tired body.

Suddenly,

Pink, White, Pink, White

Nobody is coming.

The billboard peered at her through the trees, teasing her sunken eyes.

Soon they would be lifeless too. She turned to face the stars.

I stand looking out

From the peak of health

Of which I’ve climbed to meet

But the mountain is bare

The view isn’t there

And all that I’ve earned is sore feet

I lead a perfectly healthy life

Because I haven’t yet lived at all

And when I do, I’ll find my view

Even if that means I have to fall

Oh to be the angel that sits on your shoulder

I needn’t bother to stand

I’d sit all day, in a high horse way

Knowing you’d never ask me for a hand

Oh to be your voice of reason

I’m certain there’s a vacancy

For the reasons I’d give, would be instantly rid

What a wonderfully futile job it would be

Oh to live inside that heart of yours

I could stay, undisturbed without fear

I’d be the happiest squatter, and It shouldn’t be a bother

After all, you haven’t used that thing in years

I feel my ears drowned in haze and the sudsy water stings my eyes.

I count the looming seconds like they're the last of my lives

seventeen, eighteen, twenty

My chest fights back, scared to be empty

Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three

A void clings to my lungs, tempting my body to scream

And empty it stays, just as before

With nothing worth the time to forget, or painful enough to reach twenty-four

The drain drinks up the last of my escape and steals the fear from my eyes

Because my head is still underwater, from the whirlpools that flood my mind

The kitchen is empty, like it's been since I lost count

With nobody left to entertain, and no one to ask me why I bother staying around

You always drank up the spotlight

And I was your gleaming muse

You spun me around

And watered me down

Like a poor man drinks his booze

And even the sun grew weary

Of seeing men squander it’s light

Still we orbit our lives around her

Because there is no life without her

Just perpetual night

Don’t live like your lost without me

Don’t bring me down to your eye

Just love me as is

And light your own wick

And don’t you dare orbit my life

I know a place

Where memories are made and forgotten

Where the world is as small as you thought it

And the people who escape always say

I’ve never belonged here anyway

The land is frigid now

As the warmth takes its final bows

As people navigate the crowds

Overhear the masses as they proudly state

We never belonged here anyway

And just like that they never did

Nobody wants to settle for what they knew

When perfect new things can envelop you

And remind you why you couldn’t stay

You never belonged here anyway

The flames consume

The backdrops of our lives

The hope once trapped in their eyes

Smothered in the disarray

Nobody belonged here anyway