A War in My Mind

What wise words could be found behind such shrill eyes?

The irises themselves were quite beautiful.

A soft butter brown with flakes of green and amber near the center.

What worried her most was the exhausting emptiness they held hostage.

The blues and purples piercing through the puffy, pale skin beneath her waterline.

So what heinous thoughts lay hidden behind her solemn, sinister eyes?

Hope.

She’s drowning in a sterile white tub and has been for a freckle in time;

Despite the anguish of her head being forced under water, she finds solace in the small bubbles of oxygen that have formed in the strands of her swaying, blonde hair.

But at the very last, miniscule moment when her lungs can’t bare any more breathless seconds

She hears a whisper:

“Breathe”

Said so softly like the silky surface of a calm sea.

And so she does.

She gasps for air beneath the surface of the water, and to her surprise, it does what she needs.

She feels her diaphragm expand as the sweet oxygen spills into her pink lungs,

and she pulls the heavy hand from around her throat.

Launching from the lukewarm water she searches every corner of the room to finally meet the sinner behind the hand.

And yet again, the shock shivers through her soaking body as she comes breath to breath with no one other than herself.

“War can play tricks on the mind, just breathe” she taunts seductively through her soft smirk.

And the girl knew that her battle for brain function had only just begun.