Underneath...

The side-walk cracks open up, tearing up concrete hand-prints. Inside them, dark caves and cells await me. They await me, whispering secrets of what happens when all the lights go out.

I'm scared; shaking. But no one else sees it.

Maybe if I weren't so heavy... maybe I'd float too high for the ground to reach me. Maybe I'd stop feeling that magnetic pull to the cavern-darkness. Maybe I could get high enough... nothing could get me, and I'd be okay.

(But then I'd be too far out to feel your hug, or your kiss. And your words would be a meaningless jumble. And food, and people, and life would all be so long gone...)

Maybe I should just give in...

Give up.

What, though? Give up hope, trying, caring, thinking, eating, loving, moving, living...

The side-walk cracks open up, darkness pooling out in long, silent hallways. I seat myself on the torn hand-print memories, dangling my feet over the edge.

When no one else is looking, I slip in, finding a cell that's quiet enough, then I lock the door and throw away the key, just like we used to do in grade school.

Mm. Love life,

-Tacky.