Some things never change
The circular stains on the ceiling above my heart shaped bed didn't exist under that rule
Sometimes they *seemed constant
And sometimes that made me feel ok
But other times, as I lay in bed,
Somewhere near the halfway point between laying down and falling asleep,
I stared up at them and they moved
Left and right
Ellipsing each other,
Becoming ovaloid in shape
Sometimes they simply flitted away, vanished
I thought them gone,
But they continued to return.
They would not be so remorseless as to leave and not look back to see the blank space they had left.
So my little circular stains stayed for a while.
I was happy looking up in wonder at something I could never understand but never dared question.
Until one day I simply wasn't. My interest in the stains steadily faded until I began to drift off on my side staring out the window, searching for owls I could hear but not see. These sounds made me hope.
They made me open the windows I had locked tight.
They made me breathe.
Those sounds lull me to sleep even now.
*And I've stopped looking for the circles completely