The Musings of a Teenage Something

Shadow of a Man: Poem

There's a Shadow of a Man standing in the corner of my room.
I'm trying to sleep
But I feel his eyes on me, making me increasingly
Uneasy.
I've seen this
Shadow of a Man
In my room before. He haunts me almost as badly as I'm haunted by
My nightmares.
He is my nightmares.

The Shadow of a Man stands at the edge of my bed.
I fear the worst in this moment.
Will he grab my ankles and drag me to his hell?
Will he throw his long fingers over my mouth and suffocate me? Killing me painfully?
Will he grab my wrist, pull down my not-so-soft pajama pants, and force himself on me?
Will he use his hands as fist, his words as knifes, and tear me apart emotionally and physically?
Or will he just stand there, letting this extreme feeling of unease continue to settle over me?
That'll be the worst of the options.
It's the one
The Shadow of a Man
Goes with.

The sun rises and
The Shadow of a Man
Is gone. I rise from bed, and leave my prison of a bedroom.
I sit at the table and eat breakfast,
My mind and body recovering from the night stuck with
The Shadow of a Man
When my father,
A Shadow of a Man, hollow and pitiful,
Comes in the room.
I tense, lower my eyes,
And hope to God that
The Shadow of a Man
Doesn't start anything this morning. I'm tired from last night.

He doesnt.
He looks at me.
Grunts. Orders me to make him,
The Shadow of a Man,
Breakfast.
I obey, because I'm terrified of the consequences.

The Shadow of a Man,
Seems a little less frightening in the daylight.
But I know better.
Once a Shadow of a Man.
Always a Shadow of a Man.