School day was so quiet
without the students
making sounds today.
Only birds break silence
in the school.

The school bell rang, harmony
reaching the hallway.
Breaking silence,
I lock the doorway behind,
closing gate.

Wind was chilly at the dining,
I treated him to
local delights tonight.
Soon wind stopped the dining,
we left after.

It was my first date that day,
I barely knew him.
But no no was taken,
he wouldn’t have it my way
on the train.

At his old family home,
he sat me on couch.
He gave me flowers
while I rested on edge
of my seat.

Months came and went lightning fast,
so many months and
no more words from him,
was always working basement
at all hours.

At night I would get odd calls
in cellphone case.
It was not him though,
but the girl without face
in the shadows.

If you think I may be not
telling you the truth,
come and sit with me,
as a tell you a story
in my booth.

At times I hear sounds
from in his basement,
anguished cries
from only god knows now where.
Yet I can’t go.

The normal path is now locked,
in basement I know
not, for what lies in
side those dark catacombs
of silence.

Inside the basement I
look from all rooms,
hearing odd cries.
Behind me was the faceless:
“Go now Ako!”

The door was unlocked in
basement waiting
for my own escape.
My husband knocked in kitchen,
to find myself.

Ako with the metal bat told
me to run and hide.
I ran to willow tree
wanting to protect my hide
from my hubby.

In the distance, I heard
the sound of metal
bats, whacking across
and breaking all the bones
in all his limbs.

Carefully, I called the
cops. Ako guided
my path from this town.
This town I called my home.
I do thank her.

On the news I heard he went,
from lots of blunt strokes.
I couldn’t help but think
Ako was both to blame and
to helped me…

Secure my escape.
Her face affixed with malicious grin
on the security camera,
as the prison footage went to static.

The ghost of the willow house.