I can hear mother in the kitchen,
and the food smells like death,
because it smells like Before.
The morning feels rotten and putrid,
like it's only pretending.
Father rings the bell.
Mother opens the door.
Her phone rings.
She picks it up,
it's an imposter,
but she calls her 'mother'.
A crow flies by.
The morning darkens.
That's better.
I pretend to be me,
and everyone falls for it.

My mother is dead, you know.
That's why she doesn't understand I am acting.
I eat and laugh.
Mother smiles.
I see my picture,
hidden behind another frame,
but visible to me.
Since my mother was possessed,
I became invisible.
Mother is smiling,
but I can only see her dead eyes.
She is dead, you know.

Mother looks at me,
her eyes full of mistrust.
Father's eyes are full of pity and heartbreak.
I hear their wails,
again and again,
I go back to the time when I set the house on fire.

That's why my house is black.
It's just charred to the bone,
like my parents.
I shout.
I turn the pictures towards the wall.
They can't observe me anymore.
I can't live like this.
I set myself on fire.
It hurts.
I scream,
and scream,
and scream.
Then I stop.
Now I am only ashes,
and the wind comes and picks me up.
I can hear mother in the kitchen.