Murderer. Knockout. Buried. Tormented.

The image the world sees isn’t the man I’ve become.
What I did—what I took from another man—plays on a constant loop in my mind.
Nightmares don’t wait for sleep.
Day or night, all I see is death.

Enabler. Trash. Hidden. Scandalous.

The image this town has of me isn’t who I am.
What I do in the dark, just to survive, is slowly destroying me.
There is no future. No prospects. No money.
Only the truth I bury—that I am nothing.

The images we protect are lies we offer the world.
Masks we wear, even with those closest to us.
No one knows what festers beneath the surface.

And no one ever will.

*Includes Short Story: PROTECTOR