Run, Run, Run

A furnace of fear burnt through her cheeks,

smoked through the slits between her teeth,

as she ran and ran and ran—

past the willows and the branches in her backyard,

and the puddled-potholed paths she never wanted to know,

past the hollow houses with its broken-door grins,

and shattered window's threatening, mocking glare,

screaming, run, run, run get away,

from your own fear eating at your cheeks and insides,

like rust on metal, run, run run,

from everything that'll consume you anyways,

She stopped. Lungs now on fire too

waiting for the darkness to hide the final fear

of feeling her bones crack and explode into flames.