All those days, playing Monopoly on that puke-green living room carpet. All the snowball fights, with our cheeks bright red. All the times we would just look at each other and burst into giggle fits, causing my mom to say that we sounded like two girls at a slumber party. All the times I thought you were the best friend anyone could ask for.

How could I have known all those years, secrets were being hidden from me. Secrets about the boy I thought was my friend. I was only a child. How could I have known better?

How could I have seen the dangers, masked by the innocence of youth? All those times, when I thought you were just being a weird little boy, how could I have known, you were really selling your soul? All the warning signs were there, pointing to what was to come.

A madman. Hidden in the dark of the forest. Voices running through your head. Voices that aren't there. Silent to the world. Demons eating your soul. Demons sent straight from Hell. Sent to drag you to the depths.

Escaping the prison that was to be your escape. Your escape from yourself. But the voices won't let you. They won't let you trust. They tell you that the ones that love you are sent to condemn you.

Life on your own. Just you and the voices. Just you and the demons. The madman has grown into a leader. A leader of the insane. Viper. Isn't that what they call you now? The ones that follow you, as if you're a god.

Are you still there?

Are you still alive?

Or have the demons won? Have they succeeded in pulling you to the flames?

Have the voices stopped their torturing?

Have they?


Dedicated to John K. aka Viper, my little schizophrenic.