The Escape

The Escape

I remember the window

with its dirty panes

staring out from the side of the old house

The window that has bombarded my memory

through my dreams and the flashes of thoughts

that show up when I don’t want them.

I asked her if that was the window

that we left through

She says “No, that is

The window we planned through”

We escaped through the front door.

The front door?

Escaped?

I did not know we had escaped.

I thought we left the hellish place

by free will alone.

Escape!

Makes it sound like our lives were in danger.

I missed the flashing warning sign.

She cries and apologizes.

She just kept saying “I didn’t know.”

“I never meant for you to hurt.”

“How could you not know?”

All she can say is, “I did not know,

I would have left sooner.”

I begin to feel like a refugee,

escaping the horror

that engulfed our lives.