Gaslighting

There is an abuse that goes beyond recognition, in nail beds that cannot stay steady, that cannot hold still. The taste of undiluted fiction trickles in, as you shift heavy breaths from believing yourself to doubting yourself. Abuse that cannot be found in the throw of a leg or the punch of an arm. It smiles. It hides in lavish gifts, in gaudy promises. It pulls you close, then closer. Denial trips, beyond illusions of hallucinations. A person can be both a poison and its antidote. Double meanings that puts laughter in slow motion. Deciphering becomes exhausting, leaving wrinkles older than anniversaries or birthdays. When you falter, when you fall, is when you shiver into a sliver of understanding. The silver lining is, that at least, now you know.