NEKRÓS
or, meeting the love of your life while running away from the cops
i. Your hand fits in mine like a broken piece of glass, hard and cold and cutting to the bone. I don’t drop it. I keep running.
ii. When you laugh, your whole body shakes apart. I can feel it, a drum resetting my heartbeat.
iii. Words spit out of your mouth alongside the blood, pale face orange in the streetlight. You say my name like it means something. You say my name like you already knew it. I can’t keep up with you but that doesn’t fucking stop me.
iv. We press together in an empty doorway, shaking, your hair in my panting mouth. Our limbs are soft and clumsy, like newborns. Like flower petals in a high wind. Like a raindrop in the second before it hits pavement, blue and trembling and coming to an end.
v. I thought I knew terror but I’d never met you.
vi. You’re in my head like a song, pounding under my skin like an IV drip. You are a heartbeat hand grenade, a bouquet of pulled teeth. You are a full moon’s worth of secrets. You are saltwater sting and gasoline burn. I don’t know how I ever lived without you. I don’t want to ever try it again.