The rifle fires.

The brutal sound

Rattling my eardrums

Like the neighbor’s shutters

In a furious storm.

Lighting cracking

Tracing brilliant hieroglyphs

Across the blackened sky.

I feel detached

Like I’m watching

From a distant planet

Helpless

Hopeless

You’ve jumped from the plane

But the parachute’s

Not there.

And I can do nothing

So I watch

As you fall.