>> All genre word prompt writing contest winner Read-aholic2006 and their winning entry, "Enslaved"

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Enslaved

Just when I had thought my life
Couldn't get more complicated
I fell in love with my mind
Unable to escape it

Just when I had thought
I could outrun myself
My limbs got caught
In a prison cell

It all started off
With a knock on my door
Faint and soft
Yet so much more

Something dangerous lurked
On the porch outside
I was wary at first
But curious inside

The click of a lock
As the key was twisted
I turned the knob
But I should've resisted

Because ever since then
My personal demon
Resided in my head
Fell victim to its poison
Now still sipping the regret

It clasped its hands
Around my throat
I coughed and gasped
But it didn't let go

It whispered things in my ears
Spoke of nightmares and darkness
Told me tales of failure and fears
Of funerals and caskets

It reminded me of who I was
And what I've become
Of scars I thought I'd overcome
And quiescent pain I tried to numb

It wrapped me in the weeds
Of my melancholic room
It sowed the seeds
Of despair and gloom

I could've called a truce
Instead I gave my thoughts a knife
And took the abuse
And I don't know why

Maybe I liked being stupid
And utterly useless
Perpetually wounded
Painted in bruises

Constantly drunk
On the whispering wine
That swam in my skull
And flooded my mind

My joy became tangled
In a shadowy mist
The shackles strangled
My bleeding wrists

Liberation was a ghost
A gift I'd never own
My desperate cup of hope
Filled with emptiness alone

I should have ran away
When I still had the chance
But now I am a slave
To the mess that I am

~Carmi~