cold sun

i forgot the night had an end. that my pain was supposed to end with it. I wish it did.

so here i am again dragging the mask over my face. stitching it into place for a few more borrowed hours. until the dark comes back to loosen its grip. but i cannot forget how the sun has no mercy. how it rises anyway. relentless. peeling back every layer. forcing light into places that were never meant to be seen. the sun lays you bare and here are your shadows crawling out of you. its taking shape. monsters. hideous. grotesque in the daylight. shapes that only make sense in the safety of the night.

and still i move. trying to shrink with every step i take. i think. i cannot walk this earth anymore. not with something this heavy coiled around my chest. its tightening.

but what else can i do but endure?

a few more hours. just long enough to collapse back into the dark. where light can’t reach, where i can finally breathe.