on a morning wrapped in snow
the street swallowed my brother whole
a girl behind the wheel
her hands trembling like leaves in frost
did not see him crossing
her scream collided with metal
and he flew—
an unplanned defiance of gravity
thirty feet of silence between heartbeats
his body met the soft, cold ground
snow cradled him like a mother
breaking his fall with gentle whispers
he skidded into stillness
rose to his feet as though
the world had not just split open
beneath him
she was the one who cracked
folded into a child beneath the shock
the pavement left no mark on him
but she wore the weight of the moment
like a scar inside her chest
my brother held his bruises quietly
while hers would not stop bleeding
on a road slick with guilt and snow