i bypassed everything and went straight for the neck not out of cruelty but because I was tired of pretending I didn’t want the truth raw unfiltered still pulsing I didn’t want the small talk the polite detours the scenic route through your curated grief I wanted the place where your voice breaks where the mask slips where the ache lives without apology I bypassed the stories you rehearsed the ones with clean endings the ones you tell at parties to make your pain sound poetic I wanted the version you don’t write down the one that stutters the one that bleeds I bypassed the eyes the hands the heart all the places people say love lives I went for the neck because it’s where the pulse hides where the breath catches where the body remembers what the mind tries to forget I didn’t mean to be violent I intended to be honest I meant to say I see you without the armor without the script without the smile you wear when you lie I bypassed everything because I didn’t want the version of you that survived I wanted the version that still doesn’t know how