Choking isn’t noticeable anymore
Burdens morph into usual problems
I can talk
           a
             r
               o
                 u
                   n
                     d
                       i
                         t.
The force sways

It festers and lingers and whispers
Stay! Stay! Stay!
Racketing around my skull
A whisper is a scream
The body always has much to say

I always carry the body
It follows where I go
Enveloping me in its inner folding,
Wrapped around my heart,
Teeth growing from my wounds,
Each vessel contains a shadow
Tugging it away

It lingers a second behind
Making its presence known
Step. Thud!
Step. Thud!
Step. Thud!
T
H
U
D!
Its sentient goal
to hold me captive.

I am weightless
as I reach for the sky
The body sinks against the floor
The weight gets heavier each passing day
A ten ton monster who looks like me,
Embers of the lungs suffocate my throat
Darkness lingers at the edge,
a half seen ghost in my periphery
But the sky
BRIGHT AND SHINING AND LUMINOUS
THE SKY IS RIGHT THERE!
But The body tugs
And I reach for it

Today
           the body
                      has won,
                                            But tomorrow
                                            the fight begins again.

---

Raisa Reina is a 24 year old writer with a BA in Human Development. She is currently editing her first novel. She was previously published in The Telescope and Six Sentences. Twitter @thehahafactory2.