The-Tabby-Cat

Last night there were three voices. Two male, one female. Her voice stood out above the others, a frantic whispering of harsh reminders about god knows what. I'd close my eyes and they'd start, hissing and stumbling over each other to get their words out, almost on the verge of shouting. I'd open my eyes, and suddenly my strange friends would be silent. They wore me down to the thin threads of existence, when the little questions matter like why don't stars have five points, and what story do the night crickets sing of? The threads, the strands, are what control my movements - desperate clutches at the fragments of reality while the voice

   You were nine years old.    You had a crown of dark copper hair and a cluster of freckles peppered about your face. You had a devil-may-care attitude and a strange fascination with climbing up the water pipes in the school grounds. You'd laugh with others at the pronunciation of the double "A" in your last name, and marvel at how an empty stapler would leave a tally of dents on a wooden desk. I could only sigh at your love-hate relationship with stationery when your ankle collided with the glinting metal teeth of a tape dispenser. You sauntered around for the rest of the day proudly showing everyone your batt

   The needle in a haystack - you were like the needle.   I had to rummage around for ages in the prickly straw to find you, sneezing all the while, and when I eventually found you, a microscopic dot of crimson juice erupted from my finger and sweet pain blinded me.   I wonder why I kept you around at all; I still have all the dotted scars you left on my heart.   Why do all the pieces of straw look so appealing now?

Hello Sir, the way your eyes sparkled just now showed me you still had faith, no matter how little. Hello Sir, when you smiled like that, it makes me fall in love with you all over again. Hello Sir, when I saw you across the road my heart went out to the shell of a man you were, and yet somehow I was the one that needed help. Hello Sir, the way you glance at me like that really sends shivers down my bare arms and my heartbeat is crescending up until I don't think I can breathe.

"What do you see?" I asked. We were  both standing on the edge. Harsh, unforgiving wind whipped at our hair. One step forward, and we'd be falling into oblivion. "I see darkness," came the reply. I was squinting against the light. The sun warmed my face. "It isn't fair," I said. A pause. "No." There was a silence, where we were both lost in our thoughts, hearing nothing but the wind, breathless whispers in our ears. "How do you know what's in front of you?" My voice was scratchy, strained. The words were carried away by the wind, but I was heard. "I don't." I took this in slowly, shivering as the cold wrapped around my bones like a