Reaching out toward the curtains Hayley drew them aside. The morning light flooded through the window, revealing the towns people going to and from stores that lined up and down Summit Avenue. It still felt surreal that it had only been a year since she moved to Bellmond, a small town just outside of Nashville Tennessee. It wasn’t as if she had a say in the matter when she was relocated and forced...

Why did I just do that?...

She cried. The soft sobbing kind. The kind where people can't her you. Her tears mixed with blood, not her blood, the red watery substance mixed to stain her cheeks as they ran down her face.

It was her fault but she cried. The soft sobbing kind. The kind where you know what you did can't be undone. Her tears mixed with blood to remind her of what she had done.

But still she cried. The soft so...

I should have known not to take that train

I should have seen his words for what they really were

All I can do now is stand here as my blood drips off my face and lands in the cold stream

The hot scarlet hardly even leaves a mark

Washed downstream before I can take a second glance

That’s all I was to him, just another victim, another drop in the ocean of his vileness

Another girl he couldn’t...

My brain bleeds. I am confused. He has transformed again. From lover to abuser. This morning I laid my head on his chest after our lovemaking. This evening I have locked myself in the bathroom. His hard words echo in my head.

A tiny thing. A misplaced word. An uncensored comment. A misjudged action. The eggshells break. Anger explodes. His voice is raised. His words are cruel. His vitriol spews....