the first is the sharp knife to the chest.
It knocks the wind straight out of you,
it’s a quick punch, so sharp and sudden that you’re frozen in shock.
It’s not the worst of the pain but just the beginning.
They’ll tear the knife down your chest,
dragging and prolonging the pain
so that your screams are more like strangled gasps of air.
There’s a break afterwards, a quietness as they prepare for the next step.
You’ll taste the salt from your tears, catch your breath from the pain
and a numbness will begin to spread as you’re left to bleed out.
They come back soon enough, quickly snatching the numbness away
When they jerk your ribcage apart.
Bones break with such sharpness.
And then they take.
They take away everything inside you.
Carve away every little piece of you so it hurts.
It’s the hollowing.
The hollowing doesn’t stop.