Instinct

Killer instinct coming out from within.

Sick of the game of pretend;

“hide and never seek” with my emotions.

Constant holding in what desperately wants to get out.

Ways of the past are extinguished

by the rolls of punches I’ve survived

in this quicksand of my late adolescence.

Screaming for a chance to be heard,

but drowned out by the screeching sound of fear.

Powerless in my own power-struggle

raging beneath this worry-free smile

painted on by the teachings of those I love most.

Now here am I,

trapped between the limbo of life

and my own self-preservation.

Once again powerless

over my own destiny.

I smell the killer instinct lurking

deep within me.