the scent of soggy cigarettes fills my nostrils and my stomach swirls in a queasy tempest. this is alien territory. i built my bones around your organs, always there to protect your sensitive heart... but my bones were malnourished and they yellowed over time, until i could feel the decay and knew it was the season for you and i to learn different roles. for you, you had to be your own anchor and for me, i needed to find relief i needed to be free, give my bones some exercise. although, with your beating blood gone, i feel empty inside, absent are the things i've always known but now there are horizons and trees and birds and suns to hang in the sky, with my bare hands all on my own, a journey that is waiting for my footprints.