The Prisoner

His long black hair

Piercing dark black eyes

Smell of stale liquor

Beginnings of rising fear

Deep raspy breathing

Frightening glow in his eyes

A mouse with nowhere to go

The cat waiting to pounce

He walks towards me

With a menacing look on his face

I hear his footsteps

Crunch, crunch, crunch

Fighting with fear to breathe

As he roughly grabs my arm

I feel the calluses on his hands

Calluses from being a prisoner

And swinging a sledge hammer

Can’t see past the stripes

Black and white material

Material ragged and rough

The realization and fear

That the man I was hunting

To become a hero

Was going to slay me

From hero to coward

In one quick second

Him the cat

I the mouse

With nowhere to go

Waiting for the inevitable blow

That would be my death

Tic, tic, tic

The seconds go by

I am still cringing but

I open my eyes and see

His jaw is set

And his teeth clenched

As if in pain

In that moment I see

See the crimson spread

No one else’s blood

His own

So like some darn nurse

I help him

The prisoner