exiled

when the body says "no"

There is a wild animal rattling inside my chest.

At night it wakes me with a start, as if it has lunged against the bars of my ribs. My eyes snap open into the dark. The room is silent but my body is not. My heart pounding against the inside of me like it wants out, my breath shallow, my skin prickling as if something unseen is standing just beside the …