A pained existence

Fear creates wounds

Fear is agony

Fear has become pain

Pain that is as intense as a woman screaming into the night

Because fear is the room she has been trapped in.

Fear links every one of us

Even to a child scratching at the walls until his fingers bleed

Trying with every intense sensation to remain calm

And simply being fearful

Fear is that lonely naked feeling

A young girl in the corner pulling her sleeves into her hands

Covering the wounds she created out of fear

Hiding herself from the classroom around her

No one wants you to see their fear.

But they feel it

Scratching at them from the inside

Wishing to be released into the world

Fear preys

Fear hunts down its victims

Fear becomes violence

Violence as disturbing as a brother’s fight

Because fear is the red frosted dagger at their side.