Things Falling Apart (Karen part 3)

things falling apart
Origin: Antoine Cordet – acrylic and marker on canvas

I’m walking a hallway
It’s polished tiles
Echoing
The air sanitized
Burning my nose
I’m looking for a number…

I don’t think anyone really remembers
The exact moment they went mad
They just wake up
Inside a nightmare
And they can’t make it stop
I think
time has a way
Of subtly changing things
On us and then suddenly
Everything is different

I wish I could tell you it was
Messy
But it wasn’t
It was only heartbreaking
And terrifying
mom
staring
Blankly
Acting hysterical
If you walked in
Like you were pulling her out of a deep sleep
That she didn’t realize
Was sleep at all

the house
At night grew worse
With the feeling that something
Was staring at you from across the room
shadows of figures
On the staircase
And in the hallway
The messages in her phone
Whenever she tried to leave
But the worst
The worst
Was
The sound of women screaming
Every night
At 3am

Moms new lover
We soon discovered
Died in 1992
After murdering his wife
And sister in law
And then hanging himself from the staircase

So here I am
I’m walking a hallway
looking for a number
242
I open the door
Mom is sitting at a window
Watching the ocean
Drawing her name
With her fingers
On the glass

end