You spent time on the beach,
but you’re trapped now.
A pleasant walk in the park.
A cheerful walk in the past.
Until reality appeared
and monsters and beasts
and creatures of great danger,
that feed on your time,
they feed on your fear,
they feed on your flesh.
Reality draws your attention,
all the time lately,
and you miss those old times,
when you lived inside your head.
You don’t have memories.
You only remember ideas,
or special moments at best,
but these times,
these times have swallowed you.
How on earth did the park sneak inside you?
Who let those beasts out?
You’ll have many memories,
loss will be engraved,
in your face,
in your body and mind,
in your thoughts,
inside you,
and your head will not be the home it used to be,
it will never be safe again.
Once exposed, the villain is more violent in films.
Like fake friends, or normalcy,
a slow painful ride.
Like a virus, or a ninja,
a quick attack.
Like existential dread,
steals the air.
You long to go back,
get high on the beach,
get high on waves and that sweet noise,
that intermittent noise,
a lullaby, the sweetest song,
that buzzing, that dizziness.
That noise is logic,
coming back into your head,
settling into your brain,
bursting the bubble of normalcy.
The life you think you mourn,
was but inside your head.
You only dreamt it.
You burn down the park.
You never look back.
High on dreams,
of a better world,
about to rise,
from the ashes of a dead park.
………….
Mileva Anastasiadou is a neurologist, from Athens, Greece. A Pushcart, Best of the Net and Best Small Fictions nominated writer, her work can be found in many journals, such as Litro, Jellyfish Review, Queen Mob’s Tea House, Moon Park Review, Okay Donkey, Kanstellation, Open Pen and others.