Have you ever seen someone crumple?
I have,
And I was one half of the cause.
She’d taken a bullet
But didn’t yet know it.
She wasn’t angry
As she looked from me to him and back again
Waiting for one of us to explain
What couldn’t be explained.
She wasn’t angry, she was imploding
Chipped glass about to shatter
Fragmenting shards.
Atoms swirled in chaos,
She stood alone, in a tornado
Still and silent
Not realising the oxygen had all but gone.
Time stood still for us all
And as she realised,
She started to crumple and turned and fled
Too proud to disintegrate
In front of those who fired the gun.