A youth traverses the backbone
of a hidden distract,
feels tombs shift
under his feet.

Incisors extend from
the cobblestones,
draw the seed in
like quicksand – trapdoor
to the underground.

Submergence –
various rocks –
skeletal remains –
momentary blindness –
a long drop
backlit by dread.

Back hits –
back hits what exactly?

A light flickers
to reveal a reservoir.

Bats swim lengths
of radioactivity,
liquefied rosarium
churning in the abyss.

An indetectable carcinogen
permeates in the air,
fizzle of a body
engulfed by acid waves.

The teen tries
to scream but cannot
vocalize his alarm.

When he stands,
there is a screen that shows
him being inhumed
by the Bête Noire.

Bête Noire’s octopus
mouth contorts
in slow motion –
globeflower eyes
unblinking.

Years earlier,
the beast was able
to crawl inside
the boy’s ear.
Now he collapses doorways.

Darkness never sleeps,
only slinks –
grinds prophecy
into reality.