A tad mad, I say for a dreary man.

I walk briskly through the feathers, careful not to disturb their rest.

My eyes widen, hungry and unsteady, as I crawl deeper into my own skin, wrestling the urge that trembles there.

Entrapped dare I whisper they sense me.

No comfort now, as devilish desires spill from my lips at the mere sight of them.

I was told not to stare too long, for they could keep me prisoner forever.

Damn.

Weary, fragile, yet drawn to the treachery of their frame, I let their beauty spoil me rotten.

They move closer and I, the fool, let them.

Throw me away, sweet desire… I do not deserve you.

I sink into my chair, those eyes still taunting me.

Sharp green, or perhaps sparkly brown they read into me so deeply I crumble beneath their gaze.

I search for words to bridge the ache, but something unseen tugs me back.

Why am I like this trembling beneath what I crave?

Tear me from this fevered longing, please.

My pulse quickens.

I rise, frozen in the heat of their presence, surrounded by forms too perfect, too close, their beauty sharp as blades.

No.

I won’t let them win this time.

I move swiftly through their enchanted forest, desperate for air, for freedom for anything but this spell they cast on me.

For one breath, I’m free.

But just as I look ahead toward the path that should save me I feel them again, coming for me, relentless, and radiant as sin.