Nicole Johnson

I can feel it happening

The breaths becoming fewer and farther in between

I am leaving,

This opioid dream is not for me.

I want to feel every sharp,

Painfully twisted turn

Experience every organ vibrate off my chest

As my heart slips into the abyss for a second

To feel this

Is to know I am among the living.

I felt my spirit slipping away

It reminded me of a baby yanked from its mother’s body.

I gasped.

I couldn’t scream.

Tears built behind these muddled eyes

But through this chemist’s haze, I couldn’t cry.