Pawns

Written by Isabella Melians

Medusa	Victim	Both
Clammy skin prickles with regretful power Forced to turn to stone those that chant “Wretched beast, perish” Little hero, tell me this: Who are you? Tattered satin dress exposes vulnerability beneath layers of lethality Another “hero,” come to sever my neck His skin pongs of blood, metallic ichor permeating my home I can only imagine his desire, an expression of a lustful kill Sharpened steel grazes my neck, crimson falls through bruised fingers Fangs unsheathed, his cerulean eyes meet my muddy own Another inescapable death to haunt me, to whisper tales of vengeance into my ears	My life is not my own Please don’t do this Appearance fit for a vile personality We are mortal An eternal punishment	A brandished sword dips in time to my fleeting heartbeat To die in honor or cowardly save my own skin, I am but his pawn Cursed fiend, I must know: Do they haunt you? Endless victories marked by rusted blood across my armor Soulless, slit eyes will harden my skin with a merciless passion Her trophies shriek around me, moss curling from their eyes They have spoken of her, hair of venomous snakes backed with a blood-curdling gaze A small triumph, my hand wields a blade dripping with her blood Dewy eyelashes flutter to meet her own, entranced in amber eyes Cemented arteries and rigid skin trap my soul, an immortal prison