Echoes of a Shattered Mind

By Hannah Bhullar

In the chambers of my mind, plumes of the past cascade.

Who could this be, scratching at the walls of what has imploded within?

Ring Ring Ring. Emergency. Evacuate NOW.

It permeates and disintegrates, like the wing of a butterfly shredded apart mid-flight.

The memory of what happened, what could have happened and what did.

It swarms through the hives of my mind, like demonic bees.

A terrible buzz torments me, a searing sting rips through me.

Hello? Goodbye. How are you? Please die.

These futile questions are answered by echoes and voices that do not belong to me or anybody I can remember. 

It is a creature of terror that lurches through the maze, 

like grievers maiming anything innocent and boundless.

Boundless are these ravaging thoughts, billowing like smoke, echoing like sirens.

A frigid fire, a burning cold; A dizzying stance, an empty embrace.

The noise is all-consuming, like shrieking pin pricks of what should have been forgotten.

It echoes, it multiplies, and it devours all of humanity that stands in its way.

They used to call it shell shock,

Now it is simply my day-to-day.

By Hannah Bhullar