The whiteness and blackness of my mind: Untangled

For years, they draped a net over my body— knot by knot— so that I would not leave, so that I would not escape, so that I would remain trapped within myself.

But a net is not always meant for capture; sometimes, it is stretched so far that, in the end, it tears.

One day, the sound of the knots coming undone rang out, and the fish— one by one— slipped out from my body.

They broke free, taking with them pieces of me: my fears, my memories— everything that, for years, had held me captive within itself.

I was left behind, my body marked by the imprints of the knots, in a sea that no net could ever ensnare again.

The fish departed; but for the first time, I, too, became free.