Take time for yourself, they said

Go for a walk, they said

It’s safe, they said

If only they knew the horrors awaiting me

If only they knew the amount of shivering I would endure in deepest part of the forest

If only they knew how it hurt to be aggressively squeezed by the throat

If only they knew how it felt to attempt to breathe in oxygen

If only they knew it would be my last night

Maybe, just maybe

They would’ve told me otherwise