F.E.A.R.

False Evidence Appearing Real

F.E.A.R. entered the courtroom

and began with concluding remarks

"In the end, you will see

that there is only one way

to find the defendant:

guilty."

The face was mine.

It entered an old wound

into evidence,

called Memory to the stand

and asked it to point toward the threat

to the future.

Memory's finger rose slowly toward me.

Then Memory began misrepresenting things,

inventing things,

remembering things

that had never happened

the way it said.

The evidence was false.

The sentence was real.

I served 7 years

inside a moment

that had not happened.

Denied myself entry

into rooms

where no one had refused me.

Denied myself belief

in dreams

my shadow called illusions.

Mistook the trembling lock

for a warning

instead of my own hand

on the key.

F.E.A.R. produced photographs

of every door

I never opened

or struggled to open

and called them crime scenes.

It forged tomorrow's signature

beneath yesterday's testimony.

The evidence was false.

The sentence was real.

Comparison testified

that everyone knew

but me,

that everyone had arrived

before me.

Self-doubt took the stand

under a fake name.

External Validation

served as judge,

though no one could produce

its credentials.

Motion denied.

I withdrew my confession

from the mouth

of an accused future.

Mistrial.

My past footprints

are not admissible evidence

against my next step.

My new momentum

overturns the verdict

of my past misjudgement.

F.E.A.R. no longer has jurisdiction here.

Case dismissed.