terminal

All it takes is a calculated step, just a few seconds before a whistle and the screech of steel on steel. The element of surprise, the brief moment of disbelief, will not be mine. I try to think of the blood, the ribbons of flesh and shards of bone, but all I could think of was liquid air as think as ink. I could feel concrete beneath my shoes, throbbing with the threat of pavement, roads that lead to home.

One day, I thought, I promised, I will be brave.