#todays

i entered my attic bedroom and a large shaven headed man was there sitting on the edge of the bed. it used to be his room and his family still lived in the house below. gone for many years and seldom mentioned, i had assumed he was dead

the skin on his face was interrupted by a pattern, a harlequin of broken glass, with large shards painted to look like skin but not. i couldn't tell what was concealed under the paint

he asked me if they would be able to tell and i had to tell him yes and he wept