Cold, invisible fingers wrap around my bare arms.<\/p>\n
I try to blink away the inky veil in front of me.<\/p>\n
I feel a warmth crawl down my leg and onto the rocky ground beneath me.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I try to move as an agonizing scream ushers forth from my lungs<\/p>\n
And then silence as it wafts up toward the daylight peering in from above.<\/p>\n
My surroundings press in around me.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The reality crushes me as I force my mind awake from unconsciousness.<\/p>\n
He pushed me and he has left me.<\/p>\n
The man I love has abandoned me to a cruel end.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A romantic hike during my dream vacation and it was all a lie.<\/p>\n
He fooled me and I allowed it.<\/p>\n
And now I will die for my stupidity.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He wanted to explore somewhere no one else had been.<\/p>\n
He talked me into following him deep into the forest.<\/p>\n
No one comes this way. No one will find me.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A vise restricts my throat as a sob pushes through.<\/p>\n
I want to live. I am alive and I want to live.<\/p>\n
Hopelessness washes over me as my heart pounds in my ears.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I see the sun through the trees at the opening to the pit above me.<\/p>\n
Life continues unaware that I am helpless.<\/p>\n
I can do nothing to save myself; all is lost.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As my eyes adjust to the blackness, I can see the blood pouring from my wounds.<\/p>\n
My leg lays at an unnatural angle and the pain radiates through my entire body.<\/p>\n
I take a breath and wish it all away, but it remains unchanged.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I am growing tired now; my life leaks from me and pools in the dirt.<\/p>\n
The ground laps it up greedily.<\/p>\n
I cannot stop it. I am helpless.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I no longer fight against the weight of my eyelids and let them close.<\/p>\n
I slump back against the wall of the pit.<\/p>\n
I breathe out and let the pit swallow me.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
-Diana Kristine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cold, invisible fingers wrap around my bare arms. I try to blink away the inky veil in front of me. I feel a warmth crawl down my leg and onto the rocky ground beneath me. I try to move as an agonizing scream ushers…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":983,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[5856],"class_list":["post-129047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-half-marathon-poem","tag-2023-hour-3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/983"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129047"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129057,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129047\/revisions\/129057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}