Midnight Pursuit

Palms slick with wet
Smear brick with crawling marks.
Sweating eyes rolling wide,
From under hiding I climb.

Blonde tendrils drag,
Catching under my knees,
Lines like crooked
needle tracks in the grime.

Breaks in ragged breaths,
Footfalls feed me my heart
In the soul-stripping dark.
No more time.

Chills eat through me,
Devouring my thoughts.
I run, slipping on wet leaves
As the steps quicken behind.

Stumbling feet slap hard against concrete,
Breath’s broken ragged raw.
I slow, my brutal fate to face,
Sight drawn to moths’ fluttering line.

Fingers like cold iron
Band about my shoulders--
My idiot brother, his Jason mask
And his last Hallowe’en crime.