Arrow Rock Literary Journal

I have a sinking feeling I’ve done it all in vain. A shrew digging pinpricks creating a hole dug to nowhere, she dies a martyr, she was going to die all along. A hyena feeds on stolen laughter and gnaws on bitter joy, a predatory prowess dripping from her simper, she is still insatiable. A moth, her body a gossamer of hope, reaches her lips to a sun in a constant battle of dares; she loses.  

I am not unlike these things.  

I have sung whimpers of warning, but his heavy hand sits like tape against their ears. Prayers disguised with caution lurch between my teeth like jagged canines. My knees scrape the ground and blood curdles at the wounds.  

I close my eyes, slowly, like a dog being put down, and beg.  

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Emily White is a student at Lindenwood University and is majoring in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing. When she is not working and in class, she can be found hosting a small, local book club with a focus on women empowerment stories, reading the latest fantasy novels, or writing prose poetry and flash pieces.