* HUNTER / AP

GHOSTS FOLLOW TRAUMA , & trevor exists as his own ; a bruise under skin like a scar gnarling the rings of a tree . you could count them like you could his bones , until something twists them . interrupts them . like the reminder of fire in the corners of his eyes , & the empty spaces around his name , with a loss for every letter .   ‘  funny thing , that         ’   he smiles & it’s ale-loose , but the warmth he’s meant to feel only gathers in his fingertips . under burns that have healed but the calluses still echo the tight & raw stretch on every clench .   ‘   i seem pretty alone to me .   ’    all but for his ghosts , that turn his drink to ash .  

           ‘  DEAR GOD , help me         do you not know of the dangers you’re facing by communing with the dead ?  ’  he breathes like a storm pulled through the body , exhaling with force & his voice , the thunder . 

          “everything has TEETH and it’s PRESUMPTUOUS of you to assume you’re the top of the food chain with those meager fangs . the ‘ beasts ’ you speak of are people too . you KILL for your food , don’t you?”

* PESKY HUMANS // @draefend.

          “have you ever considered that the things you’re killing were here first or … ?”

      ‘  --- HAVE YOU A better plan than just waltzing up to dearest daddy’s door & asking him to play nicely ?   ’   he twirls his fingers like punctuations , like dagger points marking accusation in the space between them ; yet all he meets are walls & he’s set to create sparks .