NOVEL NEXT Chapter 30: A stain that won’t erase
The flashbacks come, a shadowed stain,
No matter how I scrub in vain.
Raw skin, worn thin beneath my nails,
Yet still his haunting touch prevails.
I scrape, I claw, to shed the past,
But echoes linger, hold me fast.
His whispers crawl beneath my skin,
A taunting voice that draws me in.
Each breath I take, he's lying there,
A ghost entwined within my air.
He waits, he lurks, to claim the night,
To shatter calm, to steal the light.
If I could peel this flesh away,
Expose the pain, let shadows fray,
Perhaps the poison he left behind
Would seep, dissolve, and free my mind.
But still he thrives, a ceaseless blight,
A predator beneath the night.
No solace found in healing's name,
No cleansing fire to quench the flame.
Yet somewhere deep within my soul,
A whisper stirs, a fragile goal.
Though scarred, though raw, I still remain,
Defying him, despite the pain.
This battle's mine, though wounds may weep,
I'll rise, I'll fight, no vow to keep
His memory a place to dwell—
I'll claim my ground, I'll break his spell.