• Inhale.
    Like a thief in the night, it came
    A mixture of sparks and dust churn within her
    She gasps for air, but the pain only increases
    From pricking to stabbing, from caressing to constricting
    She falls.
    Writhing, croaking, struggling to cough
    Still reaching for the countless cosmetics scattered about
    She jolts, coughs
    Releasing a smokey cloud of nitrosamines and benzpyrene
    Her muscles give out, she collapses once more
    Ember and ashes fly
    And everything is in slow motion.
    The screaming voices outside
    Become a blurred mess of low frequencies
    Fragile like aged porcelain left on a dusty shelf
    Broken like a mirror shattered from frustration

    Exhale.
    Convulsing, regurgitating
    Eyes beginning thin, broken streams like veins
    The flecks of dust and sparks come back

    Inhale.
    An indefinite amount of remaining strength
    An endless flow of willpower, empty motivation
    Here, tall and promiscuous
    As a bright-coloured lighter, pressured liquid gas but no spark
    It lights the end of her life
    But they're calling her name, they're calling her name
    And she's playing their game
    Stiff, unstable, she rocks, her mind sways

    Exhale.
    She shakes, flinches, snaps her head to the side
    Her insides melt, her veins burst in a hundred places
    Hot molten lava coursing through her remains
    A broken dam,
    Smashed the flashing lights, the screaming voices
    And all those little whispers behind her.
    Flood.
    Fall.
    A bottle pops open beneath her, releasing what she calls her lifeline
    The soft yet harsh shhhhh sound like a rainstick
    Like marbles they scatter.

    Inhale.
    Dilating pupils
    Porcelain turns to snow
    Crimson fades to diluted scarlet
    Her arm extends
    She's reaching for something, anything
    Lights begin to flash, a famous scene on the news
    Camera, action, before you even pick up the phone.
    And in her pool of bloody angels,
    The voices fade
    The rushing footsteps fade
    Her very mind fades
    And for once she can see witness something greater than the world itself.

    Exhale.