(This is the first installment of a two part piece; see next Together Again.)* He pins me down his gaze binding me more than any straps My eyes skitter away until crack A fissure spiderwebs across my shell Slowly the cleaving begins A dull burn Picking at scabs and old hurts Layers I've grown over myself are peeled away at his words "Who gave you this one?" "Why did you let them?" "Who are you?" "What do you want?" "Who do you want to be?" "Why?" "Why not?" Raw Vulnerable I strain to look away, run away, anything But he makes me look His look makes me look At my insides The queer pulsing of my wants and hopes, seem almost foreign, it's been so long since we've been acquainted The wounds I thought would never heal, or had finally healed, or have almost healed And there they are again, exposed The tears burn, and I try to look instead Inside my mind Turn it off They don't still hurt They never did They never meant much But still they ache It's darker in there, inside my mind and if I stare too long, the darkness will creep again Can't hide within Can't look without And a whimper escapes my throat as I yearn for a salve, and a salvation