Chili Cheese Fritos
Tone and tension
Blurred images and tears escaping
Footsteps getting closer to me
Warped floors and unsteadiness
Flexing and cracking
Blurred vision.
I close my eyes
He inches closer to me
And all I can distinguish
Is the wafting smell
Of Chili Cheese Fritos.
The comparable taste
Of Chili Cheese Fritos
And the taste of blood
All so similar.
My first black eye.
My second broken rib.
My third time being punished.
My fifth cry for help.
All the memories flood back
And dump into a pit based off the smell
Of Chili Cheese Fritos.
Not being able to smell
But still smelling those Fritos through a shattered nose.
They were a warning shot.
They were a reminder.
They were my morning ritual.
Unclean hands
Up and down my face
Across my chest and down my back
Thickly coated chili
Blending into my skin
Like the foundation I used to cover my scars.
I wore the powder like war paint.
The fakeness of Fritos
All the expectations
All the lies and all the whispers
Being held up like a trophy
Like I wasn’t a punching bag.
Sitting high and proud
Like he didn’t break me.
The disgusting grin he had
When he told another joke.
He expected me to laugh
Power
Pain
Plotting
A red deeper than the hate I had for him
His thickly coated pearly whites
Helped me make up my mind.
Chili Fritos did not own me.
And I took my life back.