Us Two

*Read this without the words in parenthesis. Then read it again with the words.*

Us Two

At one point in time.

(I could rant. I could rave.)

You would listen.

You would care.

We were the dynamic duo.

(The two of us.)

You would help me when.

The world got to be too much.

But now.

Something has changed.

(In you. In me.)

I find myself locked inside.

Ranting to no one.

(To papers. To walls.)

(To ink. To blood.)

I find myself in there.

Trying to be calm. Trying to make sense.

There is a bit of you.

(The old bit.)

Telling me you care.

But I can not find a way.

A way to express it all.

Every emotion. Every thought.

Every action. Every word.

(Locked away inside.)

We used to be stronger.

Stronger together.

(As one.)

But now I find myself.

Stronger alone.

(As two.)

And there are times I wish.

I was weaker.

(With you.)

Sometimes I feel as though.

A whisper would shatter the silence.

Cut through to the heart.

(But that is rare.)

In moments of extreme.

Mostly I feel as though.

It is all so deafening.

(The noise. The lights. The pain.)

That I must shout myself silent.

To hear a whisper of my thoughts.

You would not understand it.

(Even if I spoke clearly.)

It is too much.

The right. The wrong.

The broken shards scattered.

The walls built up.

The stubborn will.

The weaknesses. The strengths.

(Where would I begin?)

I suppose the beginning.

(But where is that?)

Was it there all along?

(The core rotten.)

Or did it seep in?

(As a worm in the apple.)

I suppose it was a bit.

Of both.

(Of you. Of me. Of us.)

Us two.