Run Away

She blankly gazed out the frosted window,
snow covered trees whizzed by.
She thought her past was miles behind her,
but distance doesn’t erase memories.

The night sky contrasted the white glistening snow
like her past to her future.
All she had done, all she had known, who she had been,
all slowly faded as the train sped along the tracks.

She had run away from everything
like a rabbit from a hungry wolf.
Her face was stoic and composed,
but her insides twisted like writhing snakes.

She sat upright and tightly squeezed her eyes shut,
her eyelids curtains hiding what truly laid behind them.
She clutched the arm rest firmly,
a cold metal best friend that would never betray her as some others had.

She had left him behind, the man she loved.
She would never see his sweet smile dance across his face,
feel his soft embrace warmly surrounding her,
or hear his soothing voice whispering her name.

But there was another side to him.
The firm hand that smacked against her cheek,
the tight grip that yanked her arm back,
and the rough push that sent her to the floor.

She wanted to forget him,
erase every memory in the chalkboard of her mind.
She thirsted for a new start
to be reborn into a different and better life.

But as hard as she tried,
she could never forget.