The Skeleton in the Basement

The same image flashed through my mind every time I tried to sleep

The skeleton in the basement, it's calling me, it's calling me

Each night I try to settle down, to rest my weary, failing mind

The same image flashes through my mind, every time my head falls

The collection of old bones, the bones I know, laying in the basement

Symbolic the broken bones are of the broken promises, the broken trust

It was never supposed to end the way it did, but he pushed, pushed, pushed

My mind...it races, when I try to sleep, thoughts of his skull...his bones

Thoughts I can't erase....inside my weary, failing, broken mind

Broken mind like his broken bones, his broken skull.

What happen to his flesh? Torn asunder, bathed in acid, gone forever

Still his memory haunts me, the skeleton in the basement, his skull and bones

He always liked to push...

It was never supposed to be this way, this was supposed to set me free

Still his skeleton, his skull and bones, they call out to me, when it's dark

I need to stay strong, I need to keep my story straight, I need to keep my mind straight

He didn't need to push me...didn't need to provoke

Mistook my hands up for weakness, my lack of reaction for pacifism

Until it was one push too far, one push too much, one sorry regret after another

Now he haunts me as I try to sleep, the skeleton in the basement.

*

Thanks for reading!

This is my response to Atomic Historian's The Unintended Fiction Challenge, which you can find out more about below:

To quote him:

So, I’ve never posted a challenge idea of my own. Or it’s been so long, that I’ve forgotten. But here’s one I came up with after writing Let Her Dance last night.

Your task is to enter a single word prompt into Unsplash. Find a picture that strikes/inspires you, and write a piece based on that picture.

There is no time limit on this.

The rules:

1. The picture must be from Unsplash. No, self uploaded images, AI generated images, or any other images that are not from Unsplash.

2. Your piece can be in any community, but must be fiction. No typing in a prompt that will generate a nonfiction prompt that you are comfortable writing about. The intent of this is to break from your comfort zone.

3. There is no time limit. You can respond with your links in the comment section on this story. But I’d prefer you to send them to me, and I will add them to a running list on the Story to create a compendium of everyone’s works.

The word I typed into Unsplash was "terror" and I picked the image above to take inspiration from.

I'm looking forward to seeing who else enters and what you all come up with.

A few other pieces you might enjoy, include:

You can also take a look at my profile here.