Voices like spindly spiders weave webs in your mind

They're trying to catch the fly that's making all this noise

But you can barely see it buzz by

So you have little faith in their contraption

SNAP

This photograph captures the moment so perfectly

“Horrible” is the caption

And now it's ingrained in your mind for eternity

SIZZLING

Your flesh is a fireball

Warmed by the alcohol

Burning up from the embarrassment

See you just told him you loved him

But you didn't mean it

Only you did

You just don't want him knowing

Because then he'll be the one leaving

So you must

DITCH

This effort

Play hooky

Not like hard to get

But buried so deep

You can't be found ever again

Because the what if

The possibility

The hope

Is causing a rift

Its too much

To think

Maybe he loves you too

But that's dangerous

Not the dangerous you enjoy

Where you teeter on the edge of too much

Far from coy

Dangerous like too close

To be safe

But maybe if you pause for just a moment

You'll see the rush you've been running after

Is right in front of you

JUMP

With all your might

Hope with all your being

See what i am seeing

My eyes were bleary by now, when even was now? The room was dark but my tiredness must have been an illusion because all I did today was sleep. I blinked. I laid in my bed– only it wasn’t really my bed. I didn’t consider my dorm room home– it was just a temporary space I filled with my belongings. It wasn’t a bad place; I just refused to let myself get comfortable, but I was tired now and the bed was comfortable enough to tempt me to sleep. I closed my eyes. Swirling colors blotted my vision. The back of my eyelids expanded into an abyss before me. The green and pink morphed into a red blob. The blob grew feathers and a beak as though I had adjusted the focus of a camera to reveal a magnificent parrot. Spindly spider figures came crawling from the corners, chasing each other across my field of view. More animals and colors merged from one another, overrunning my mind. I flung my eyes open to see the light blue paint of the room, the string lights twinkling, and my cluttered desk. The walls felt closer together now. I took a deep breath; the air felt warm in my lungs, which didn't ease my shakiness. Thoughts raced through my head. Maybe I was crazy. I wondered if there was an escape. Soon enough my worries dissipated into the trenches of sleep.