Lost voice

Muted stutterings
rasp.
You're hurting my ears
he dared.
How?
the mouthed how teeters
the question mark
bursting its bubble on the silence.
The whistling whispering voice
grates the air
like nails on a blackboard
puncturing eardrums.

Undeterred
words career
words crash
towards and against
the invisible membrane.
Defeated
they ricochet back -
back down
down into the black
horribly denied.

She would not speak today.

Gemma Hammond