Every story is the same

It starts and ends with one

A birth, a cry

A death, just silence

Nothing changes a story

The people they meet

Friends they make

Brothers, sisters, siblings

Blood or shared tears

Ink of the plot

Never bleeds

Never smudges

Everyone fights to

Change the story

Running away from

A ticking, never disappears

Tocking stalker 

Spinning hands

That can’t be dodged

Slice, slice!

A thread, a head

Cut down on the dot

Never miss the best

Nothing changes a story

But we keep reading

Turn the page 

Desperate pleads

Clawing their way

Out of chambers

Locked in hearts

Long turned to stone

Why do we keep

Reading, hoping, begging

The lines are written

The arc’s fixed

In place, but still

Our eyes fly through 

Pages written

With blood of authors 

Fallen on dusty typewriters 

Ignored in favor of

Deadlines looming

Deadlines…

Not unlike our own

All life’s a deadline

Expiration dates

Tattooed on eyelids

The second they open

So we hope that

The story never ends

Because if this one goes on

Maybe ours will too