Prompt: Persona narrates what witnesses to a tragic accident do after the accident is over.**

Two days ago, Melody Nixon drowned after her car spun off the I90 Bridge and plunged into the water, trapping her inside her car like a prison.

She was hit by a drunken college student, who wrongly
assumed he was well enough to drive without any problem.

On that night, Melody’s death was witnessed by two others. The first was Susan Baker, a successful business woman who spent more time in her office making plans and making deals to remember she was a mother.

The second witness was Walter Price, a malignant *** who lived under the I90 Bridge during the summer. He had just felt the smooth familiar burn of his whiskey as it slid down his throat when he saw the two cars collide.

After the accident, Mrs. Baker took a week off work and flew her family to Disney World, her sudden epiphany warning her to spend more time with her children.

Walter Price took one last sip of his whiskey and smashed the bottle against the side of the bridge swearing it as his last drink; a hope for a different life.

Melody’s father; however, could not seem to shake away the anger and the hurt
from losing his daughter in such a tragic way. This was why the night of the funeral, he picked up a bottle of Captain Morgan and took his first swig of alcohol, starting his inevitable downfall, a routine pattern of crawling inside the bottle when reality became too much to bear.

Prompt: A place I would never want to go back to

My childhood was spent on these cracked streets,
worn and broken from the life they have seen. The air around them, stale and heavy, makes a body grow weak and tired, as though age can seep in through the creases of the skin from the atmosphere and take away its youth.

In spite of myself I look once more for a second chance, an excuse to stay. Instead I find  memories. Memories hidden around every corner, stuck between the cracks of a building, twisted among branches of a tree; melted deep into the sidewalk like a forgotten candy bar.

Once again I am eight years old, swinging through my backyard jungle; discovering a buried treasure beneath the apple tree; walking the plank of the patio.
Imagination created a shelter when the world around me had collapsed. Imagination became my place to escape; my safe haven.

Then it happens again. The heart inside my chest beats at an incredible speed, my palms sweat with fear; my mind trapped in a moment.
I can no longer separate myself from these ghostly memories,
they have become a part of my soul.
This place is suffocating.

There is no other choice. Staying behind would only seal my fate.
This town will poison me as it has so many others, it will mold me into its history. I will become another pebble on the road, a crack in the sidewalk, the strong breeze in the air.

So this is it, my bittersweet goodbye.

when you look into my eyes,
do you see her?
do you see the girl you fell in love with?
Or do you see a broken silhouette where she once was?
you could have made her stay you know.
you could have made her feel alive and wanted.
you could have made her love every inch of herself,
every fiber of her being you claimed to love in the beginning.
what changed that for you?
was it when you found out she was different?
found out she had scars deeper than the grand canyons valleys.
found out she was used merchandise.
found out, that no matter how hard you tried you couldnt erase the memories.
skin inked with distrust and abuse.
no empty canvas was left for your saving fingerprints.
no room to spill kindness and love,
no room for change.
so you, just like everyone else shes ever known,
left her.
you packed your bags and got out while you could.
if you only knew the envy she felt towards you.
You see, you could pick up everything and leave.
while her baggage comes with a lifetime guarantee,
weighed down by skeletons in her closet.
she can not escape.
You left her.
broken, vulnerable, and dying.
So when you looked at her you saw it didn't you?
saw what makes everyone leave eventually...
*you saw her

In the light I stand in darkness
In the darkness stands no light
There you'll find me in my shadow
Ambivalent of wrong and right
Deep within me lies a crystal
It shows its sparkle within my eyes
But in my heart there lies the darkness
Forever on going and never dies
The darkness overtakes me
And turns me cold as ice
I hold onto the tiny crystal
It is my soul's one device
For when I think I have no feelings
No love, no hate, no fear
The crystal turns to liquid
And forms a single tear

I’m old enough to know but
too young to know better
the state says I’m an adult as of May
but I still don’t know what I want to be
when I grow up,
except for still carrying around my Blankie.

Teddy Bear holds up the pipe to my lips
I can’t do it on my own, I’m not so good at this,
he says breathe deep Baby, I’ve got you.
The fuzz on his face is rough when he kisses the top of my head.

Taj and Tibby walk in holding hands
“Baby!” he smiles and leans down to kiss me
“Hey little one” she says and hugs me tight.
Lauren and Luke come out of their room and
give me big smiles.
Everyone is glad I am home and I exhale
grey smoke because I am glad too.

I am the baby, but I am also the best cook.
While I clang pots in the kitchen my man pours
champagne and turns on the new speakers.
Chicken Piccatta for dinner, because when
you feed people, it’s the best way to tell them
you love them.

The flimsy laminate floors are sticky,
the practically cardboard walls are dusty,
the room like a cave is dark even with the blinds cracked open
but Taj makes us laugh and we dance to the music.
Kitchen table cleared of drug paraphernalia
becomes the flimsy garage-sale/side-of-the-road version
of the dinner table I grew up with.
The people crowded onto its edges
a kind of family.

I've heard every line in the book,
Sweet talkers and liars
From both sides of the tracks.
I can tell without looking,
I can smell the lies on them.
But there is no lying in your lines.
You lighten the weight of the world with your words.
If I could do for you what you do for me,
I'd do it for all eternity,
But I'm not eloquent like you.
I spent more time getting into trouble
Than learning in school.
Before you, It took two glasses of wine
For me to loosen up.
Another cup to get me ready for bed.
I used to wake up with wine on my breath,
But what you do is so much better
Than three glasses of wine.
You are three glasses of wine,
Al Green on the stereo
Capable hands working the kinks out of my shoulders,
And A warm mouth delivering kisses to my neck.
You are a miracle worker,
Because you never fail to make me smile.

Down and down I go
I fall into a unknown rabbit hole
Welcome to the last number of this show
My hands haven't held anythings sturdy for quite a while
I can't seem to stop my self from ending up in empty piles
Nothing is bright to me anymore
Colors have been ****** like venom out of every pore
All I can see are the tears in my eyes
And all I can seem to do is cry
And further down this hole i fly
Into a bottomless sky
I wonder if Alice ever thought it would stop
That she might find an end to her darkened drop
Maybe that's the answer to my dilemma
And death is what I need to save Emma
Because Wonderland seems like the place to be
At the bottom of this fall waiting for me

I sink into the claws of my floor
Rain crawls across my cheeks, scalding from a second before
My bones are unable to support the boulders
That have made a home on my scarred shoulders
It’s funny how the words that drip from your jaw always end up slapping me in the face
The bruises on my brain make me microscopic and you the callous king of this place  
The walls in here are graffitied with gruesome traces of your vicious venom
Urgent, ugly, and unrelenting
Shadows howl and holler, hidden beneath my burning bed
The beaches of barbed wire clutching my floor boards bite my moon skin
My eyes drip with onyx after looking into the ebony gaze of the weary windows, heavy with traces of haunted words, hurled hazardously in my helpless direction
My room mimics the madness moving along the corridors of my consciousness
Darkened, desolate, and destroyed
The dead sunflowers sleeping soundlessly on my pillows smoke cigarettes and my lungs become rough with rubies
thump, THump, THUMP
The sound of your titan steps set my nightmares on fire
My soul shakes when the echoes of your shoes and my fears collide
My blood tastes your fingers teasing my doorknob
And all I can see is the shaky symphony of my staggered breathing.