Seize the Day

radio playing, laughter transforms

into screams, metal crunching and

closing in, a flash of red hair,

or is it blood

 

the smell of dirt and smoke,

hands pull me from the wreckage,

covered in crimson water that

is not my own

 

            searching eyes and choked shrieks,

            where are they, where are-

 

face-down, still, twisted into

unnatural positions, unconscious,

the deafening screams are my

own, falling to my knees

 

helpless, seeing red but not in

anger, somewhere an ambulance

arrives, parents and bystanders

watch with unwavering fear

 

            they scream for their mother, and

            she is not breathing anymore-

 

uncontrollable shaking, a breath is

finally taken, but the battle is not won,

rushing, bright lights, tears and mud

staining my cheeks

 

she can only see shadows, his neck

is broken, another scream, a phone goes

off in the next room, a man in uniform

takes my hand and doesn’t let go

 

by Brittany Zedalis in Mad Swirl 2014