I'll Be Right Back My Dear

<p class=ql-align-center><strong>IN 1960sSMALL-TOWN AMERICA DIFFERENT MEANS BROKEN-AND BROKEN PEOPLE ARE CAST ASIDE.</strong></p><p></p><p>By nine l'd already learned how silence could kill.</p><p>Mama said she'd be right back.</p><p>I waited for days but she never returned.</p><p></p><p>When I found her her body had already turned cold.</p><p>I was left alone in the wreckage. Nobody came. Nobody cared.</p><p></p><p>I walked until my feet split open until I found Pop the old man who tried to piece me back together.</p><p>He gave me safety... almost.</p><p>Yet the fear I'd buried forged cages that even Pop's love couldn't break.</p><p></p><p>Now the locked doors hold me captive.</p><p>These poisoned pills steal whole months.</p><p>And the voice only I can hear won't stop. Taunting. Clawing.</p><p>Waiting for me to snap.</p><p></p><p>Time is running out. If I want freedom I'll have to face the one thing I fear most-<em>my own mind.</em></p><p></p><p class=ql-align-center><strong><em>BUT WHAT IF IT ISN'T JUST MY MIND THAT HAS BEEN LYING TO ME ALL ALONG?</em></strong></p>