Murderer. Knockout. Buried. Tormented.

The image the world sees is not the man that I have become.
Images of me, of what I have done to another man, fill my mind.
Nightmares fill my life, day or night, it doesn’t matter. All I see is death.

Enabler. Trash. Hidden. Scandalous.

The image the town sees of me is not who I have become.
What I do late at night, to make ends meet, consumes me.
I have no future. No prospects. No money.
I’ve always tried to hide the fact that I’m nothing.

Images we try to uphold are lies that we present to the outside world.
Masks are all that we show, even to our closest friends.
Nobody knows what lies beneath the surface.
Nobody will ever know.

INCLUDES SHORT STORY: PROTECTOR