we plan for futures that aren’t even guaranteed.

each day, looking forward to what the sunset will look like,

driving down the road with your favorite song blaring, feet tapping and body overwhelmed with joy.

each day we say "it'll be okay" and actually believe it for a second,

then the road you're on hits a dead end, and the song is over, and there's just silence.

the sounds of the crickets and the crisp air hallucinate you,

making you oblivious to the wolf that's staring at you with hungry eyes,

the still silence traps you and you can't move.

the wolf, longing for a taste of your skin

just looks at you,

and that's when it hits you.

you close your eyes and shake your head and say "it'll be okay"

and you actually believe it for a second,

and everything around you disappears,

the wolf, the chattering of crickets,

!poof! it's all gone.

so you take a deep breath in,

relieved that it's okay

and before you can even think about breathing out, you're dead.

there was no wolf, there was no truck.

it was all a figment of your imagination,

but the nightmares took over your brain,

and there was nothing you could do to stop it

you see, what they don't tell you,

is that you live in a world that runs on fear.

they just want you to believe

that it's going to be okay,

they just want to trick you.

because how would they control you

if you took your last breath,

believing that it was going to be

             okay.