Hurricane force winds
Tearing through my soul
Lifting up and throwing out
All who get to close

Dragon fire
Seemingly from nowhere
Attacks and destroys
Unfortunate heroes

Quicksand spread over the ground
Making the land dangerous
Yet they still risk their lives
Poor souls never again found

A wall a thousand feet high
Covered in barbed wire and spikes
Trying to keep people out
Only making them more curious

I've been throwing up defenses
Isolating my own being
Building a life alone
In a world of caring people

Stay away everyone
Avoid the danger and sure death
Heed the signs written in blood
Turn back before it's too late

Those want to be heroes
Climb walls and defenses
Looking for a princess to rescue
A needy damsel in distress

They make it to the cave
The one dug in my heart
Where the dark parts of me live
In the center of my agony

Deep in the darkness
Hidden under a pitch black blanket
A blanket woven of fear
Lies an old and breaking castle

Bricks built of self hatred
One of the strongest materials
Windows barred and boarded
Keeping things out… Or in

One door
Disguised and locked
A well guarded secret
But not impossible

No lights inside
No pictures or mirrors
Too dark to see
But that's the way I like it

Frost over the ground
Like a cold dust
Reveals the steps
Pacing back and forth

No food
No running water
No sign of life
Except for the monster

Walls covered in blood
Painting a gruesome picture
A story of how it came to be
How the monster was me

Empty frames on the tables
Pictures long removed and burnt
The pain they once held
Lives inside the monster's mind

The moat around the castle
Filled with salt water
Constantly being refilled
From the beasts tears

Claw marks cover the furniture
Writing poetry out of agony
A language lost long ago
Sonnets of sorrow

A library filled with books
Dusty and untouched
Stories of hopes and dreams
Times were better then

Beds all made
Unslept in
Pillows stained
By pain ridden tears

Under the beds
Ancient demons rest
Their work of destruction
Already accomplished

A backyard treehouse
Instead of a rope swing
Is a rope in a different knot
A more permanent loop

Kitchen cabinets barren
Yet full
Full of empty bottles
Bottles for a poisoned mind

Bathtub filled with frigid water
A toaster teetering on the edge
Waiting to be toppled
An inviting sight to a terrorized soul

Closets filled with the same outfit
Dark clothes
Black hoods
An expression of hope, or lack of

A musty basement
Walls lined with tools of torture
Keeping the monster company
Cruel forms of entertainment

Under the sink
Half empty bottles of poison
Used wine glasses
Dispensing sweet bliss

A dinner table
Long and empty
No plates forks or spoons
But more knives than needed

All of this and more
Belongs to the monster
Paid for in full
Paid with life's inadequacies

When you dreamed of a house
Building yourself a home
Was this what you intended?
How did I end up here?

No matter…

I'm not leaving.