SVU Scares: “Monsters”

Submission by Anna Bonney

A chill ran down your spine

With murder on its mind.

Tell me quickly —

Who can you see?

Goosebumps crowd your arms

Screaming out, “There are

Faces in the dark!” —

But only trees.

Yet, you hear voices.

You hear whispers in the wood.

You run faster, escaping —

At least, wishing you could.

From my perch I see you

Scream and trip and fall.

I tilt my head and wonder

Why you’re scared of nothing at all.

You draw your knees in closer,

Crying to a suffocating void.

It echos the whimpering of a child

Who only now finds his voice.

“I’m not scared of the noises you plague me with! I’m scared of the voices inside.

I’m not scared when they tell me I’m better off gone. No, not scared — Terrified.

Terrified they live inside me.

‘Home’ they call my mind.

It’s one thing to fear a monster —

Another to be locked inside

As they circle you, jaws gnawing

On the ‘you’ you knew before.”

You said those words between broken sobs, On the ink-black, woodland floor.

Up, run, trip, fall.

You run, escaping nothing at all.

Tell me —

do you see any monsters?