im struggling and still saying its alright to depend on these words even if dependence is no form of freedom and former independence doesn't like to be called out by his first name so he writes like a ghost and ghosts his friends like they're lost in the woods and looking for him or at least his corpse i guess that depends on how far his willpower is willing to bend before becoming a coward too afraid to respond it's all choked up nothing in his (my) throat but smoke and he (i) choke on the ash and fall on my (his) *** trying to grab the rock to hold onto but it crumbles in my (his) hand and he falls to the echoes of my friends' calls into the darkness and the darkness transforms he and i into i and he a split sewn together and fraying again he isn't me but i can't help but be him when i want to be me so i turn back to words on pages that bring some semblance of comfort and a voice to the chaos in his head and taste the vitriol in my mouth before spitting it back out because it may be filling but it has no sustenance beyond what a fog can offer instead so i step into the morning fog away from him who i've come to hate and love as much as i hate him so that maybe someday soon i will love him more than i hate him but until then it's cold this morning and i hear my friends in the woods