i can hear you in the background behind me saying my name the way you curse hold it in your mouth, hot spit it out watch it burn, embers flying through the smallest gap in your teeth.
you stare hard at me, maybe to see where the sparks catch hoping one lands on my face or in my eye, whichever will move my gaze from the floor to you. but i can't.
i'm still looking at your gross ******* carpet. it's all i can focus on, a stained oriental with crunchy grey tassels that i can only assume used to be white.
i'd like to ask you about it, but it's not my turn for questions. i'm not sure if i'll even get one before the curtains catch flame.
so i sit there, silent, fireproof waiting for you to finish using each and every wrong ever done against you as kindling for the anger you feel towards me.
i think it upsets you that i can't get burned anymore, but you still sit white hot, ashen gray rings around your eyes asking why i just won't catch.
you're breathing smoke from your nostrils, but you're no dragon. you're a book, 451 pages of relation and situationships and drunk texts and missed calls from cleaning ladies and therapists, angered that you ever caught spark from my ashes and burned.
Caution: Some are more flammable than others. Handle with care.
This is the first thing I've fully written in almost three years. Thanks for helping me shake the rust off.