The House That Binds Me

I walked away when dawn still bled,

from faces carved in ancient thread—

their voices laced with poisoned care,

yet I believed they ever were fair.

I cursed the mirror’s cold, pale stare,

its silvered glass revealed despair;

each tremor of reflection’s light

shredded my soul in endless night.

I tore my heart from tender kin,

believing freedom dwelled within—

but every step I thought was mine

led me down halls of warped design.

I hear them whisper when I sleep,

their words crawl under skin so deep;

each shadow twists to mock my name,

their eyes, my eyes, all burning flame.

I trace the cracks of every wall,

yet see my fingerprints on all;

I am the wraith, the arbiter, the fiend, the necromancer,

the architect of my own despair.

The air is thick with rot and rust,

the floors collapse beneath my trust;

painted faces peel and sigh,

and stairwells twist to claw the sky.

I ran, I stumbled, I cursed, I bled,

I clawed the mirrors, wishing them dead;

my thoughts a swarm of crawling worms,

each memory a thousand burns.

I thought I could escape the endless hall,

the twisting walls, the breathing shadows all.

My chest tore open with a silent scream,

and I felt myself slide, unmoored, unseen.

My bones fell behind me like broken wood,

my skin stayed heavy, tethered to the floor.

I rose—my soul, pale and shivering,

slipping through the cracks of this cursed dwelling.

The wind touched me, sharp and cold,

and I floated, untethered, over streets of gold.

I laughed, I wept, I thought I was free,

but a pulse of darkness clutched at me.

I looked down—my body still crouched below,

veins like ink, eyes wide, a silent woe.

The corridors had crept inside my mind,

the walls had followed, patient and blind.

The shadows grasped at me, teeth and hands,

folding me back into their blackened lands.

My soul screamed, but no sound came,

I was outside… yet I remained the same.

The house had consumed me, marrow and bone,

and I—unseen, unmade, unalone—

floated in a cage of my own design,

forever trapped where the dark intertwines.