I begin again

You were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar

And so it begins.

One more time,

The song's rumbling base needles through the karaoke room

I turn to my friend

My new friend

And in that motion, I turn my back on the past, the taps on my shoulder,

The whispers about that last time I heard this song

Running through the night,

A scared teenager,

Demons and dreams and deities all twisted up inside my mind in a tangled mess of fear and thoughts and doom

The black headphones wrapped round my head like a vice, pumping out the battle rhythm that drives me towards the cliff, towards the water, an irreversible course of destruction

But right now, I am not there

I am here

I am now

I am now in a new world

With new friends (what about the old ones who abandoned you?)

With new purpose (what about that year you wasted?)

With new happiness in my chest, swelling as the chorus approaches, my friend's voice joining with my own, just like all those years ago when I was part of the choir.

Our voices overlap and I put it to rest. One demon at a time.

Don't you want me?

Not anymore. No thank you.

That past can be left behind me now.