29

The painful reminder that I’m not dead.
Inked on my flesh, a butterfly tattoo carved on my vein, stabbed in my brain.
A sweet relief for an endless crash of anxiety as soon as I bleed.
The red gush calms my brain, soothes my mind as I yell out in pain, my screams echoing the very life seeping out of my skin.
But one time isn’t enough, just like an addict, each night I remind myself that I deserve to live, Despite my pain.