Atrocity latches onto me
It leers from a distance
In my peripheral vision
Just out of sight

Slowly, it pursues me, the prey
Hastily growing more aggressive
As time passes like a crumbling leaf
In raging gusts of wind

Its black, wispy cloud of a self
Did not have to take a more enthralling form
To persuade me

The essence of its existence was alluring
It tempts me with vile words in its methodic voice
And its nebulous form
My new toxic companion

It whispers hatefully enticing things into my ears
Insecurities bubble and heat up
Transforming themselves into an extensive agony
The monstrosity rips every ounce of warmth from my being
And replaces it with a harrowing detestation
Clear visions of loved ones circle my brain
And plague my thought process

They point and cackle
They tell me that all this time
Their friendship was fraudulent
Their caring words
Were mere cracks in my existence