Tarnished

I was raised in the dark.

Never protected. Not loved. Just locked away until the silence felt like home.

And then he found me.

He doesn’t promise freedom.

He promises nothing but himself.

A savior who looks at me like I was built to be caged.

A monster who whispers that I’ll never escape him.

A man who would rather burn the world to ash than to let me go.

I should fear him, I should run.

But every time I push, he pulls harder.

Every time I break, he picks up the pieces like they’ve always been his.

And maybe the truth is simpler than I thought…

I escaped one cage, just to walk into another.