Ratmas 2014 Bonus Day 1 - Writing Challenge

Thank you all so much for your fabulous entries. Your concepts of guilt were interesting to read, some presented in ways we didn't expect! We always encourage writers to look at emotion in new ways, and hopefully you can all express that in your writing. But, without further adue, here are your winners:

FIRST PLACE = MYLEE

When I left him he let me know
“I will be with you wherever you go.”
But what he failed to mention or say
“I will not leave you, not by night or day.”
And now I hear it, in the ticking of the clock
In the tick, tick, ticking that never stops
In the beating of my feeble heart,
Where the tire never stops nor starts.
Yet despite where I go—
Despite where I run
“I am here.”
“You are here.”
(I wonder
If he was here and I was there,
Would it stop?)
“It would not, my dear.”

SECOND PLACE = KIRE

There's a writhing bramble in your gut
it burns where it touches
The acid of your stomach
eating your own flesh
From the inside

Eyes stinging with salt and acid rain
That pours from ashen skies
wearing the stone face away
Cracking under the weight of the mountain
while the mole hill remains undisturbed

You shake with a fit
Wild eyes clawing at the ceiling, the walls
Trying to get a purchase on the cliff face
fingertips digging deep into flesh
soil
Flesh
rock
FLESH
mud

The world falls in on your casket
Your breath fades into dirt
Tears streak your face in mud
The earth hugs you tighter
And you see her face.

It should have been you.

THIRD PLACE = PUPPY

I take one look at the hot dog on the table
The dog half eaten
little brother looking innocent
dog looking full

"Who did this evil deed?"
I asked the room
"Which foul being did this?"
The room stares at me in silence

I walk to my brother
His innocence
Brightens as I near
I take a look at him

"Alright! I did it!"
He screamed angrily,
"Why did you eat the hot dog fowl beast?"
I yelled

A look of confusion on his face
"I didn't do that"
He says
"I thought you were wondering who fed the dog."


NOTABLE MENTIONS TO OUR OTHER ENTRANTS

GHOSTY

Guilt is like a train
Rumbling over the tracks
Towards an ending

Guilt is like monsters
Right down, deep inside your mind
Stabbing you to death

Guilt is like the wind
Whistling around, always
In corners of minds

Guilt is like a freak
A laughing clown of nightmares
Screaming in your ears

Angry soul is guilt
All your guilt is in your mind
Waiting to escape


AZA

They stain.
Silent tears wash the pain,
full of shame. I am cold,
ugly. I am naked,
voiceless.

The demons inside.
Eating the memories
of our collide. They cut slowly
into me, I resist.
These words will never
escape my broken soul.

I look.
An unfamiliar reflection
drawn with despair
fills the colouring book.
The lines are faded,
seeping past the guides.
They reek of regret.

I lie.
A bed of thorns comforts me.
Spreading my wings, I fly.
It cuts deeper, deeper yet.
I feel alive, I feel fresh.
Death was inevitable.
But I am ready for a refresh.


DEATH

I am sorrow. I am pain.
I am every breather's bane.
I whisper songs of truest truth,
Despite oldest age or youngest youth.
They are truth, which is only night,
So people banish me from sight.
If truth is but the mask of dark,
Does not that make our future stark?
Does not that mean we only lie?
Does not that mean we never die?
I am question. I am wonder.
I can tear the world asunder.

Thank you all so much for taking part!!
~R