You've Lost a Lot of Blood

by Eric LaRocca

Little insects—barbed and dangerous with their glittering exoskeletons and their sharp pincers—circle inside my head and whisper indecencies to me. For once, I’d like to see myself outside of myself. If that even makes sense. I’d like to crawl outside of my head and look back at the horrible thing I’ve become, the soulless spirit residing inside my shell.

I killed him because if I didn’t, something might have tethered us together and that would have been a suffering far too unimaginable for me to even consider.