Seventh Storey

In the winter months the trees bared a doleful breeze.

You almost slipped upon that unfortunately placed ice puddle.

The air could feel your eyes freeze, your heart melt and your hands numb.

Rolling down the bank of your body.

You traced your steps, but they’ve gone cold, lights lost in a love that no one could hold.

Now you're just her seventh story, nothing new, nothing bold. 

From the seventh storey, you watched it fade.

The seventh story was the one she made.

Now it’s a page you can’t rewrite.

Just another memory you lost to the light. 

She needed to ensure the highest standards of safety, cleanliness and cost-effectiveness.

It was a real shame, she thought, that you don't meet the required standards she has:

De-icing every inch of her car's windscreen, wiping away the frost.

All while you slipped, letting the penetrating moisture in.

Letting it seep through the cracks like old oil stains, rusting all that was left.

You were too dirty, too cheap.

Too dirty, too cheap.

For her careful plans. 

The seventh storey was always your escape, above the streets where the deals were made.

Where shadows traded names.

It was your spot, away from the neon signs. Away from the broken promises and their empty lines.

But now the seventh storey's not yours to claim 

Taken over, by what you tried to outrun.

The same faces you once avoided now fill the space.

Their business leaking through the cracks like the brown, murky liquid that was always spilling from the ceiling.

Was it water or was it waste?

It doesn't matter, it all looks the same when you're drowning.

Since she left, your life's been sold in the same way,

Bit by bit, piece by piece, lost in the transaction of a love game gone cheap. 

From the seventh storey, you watched it fade.

The seventh story was the one she made.

Now it’s a page you can’t rewrite.

Just another memory you lost to the light. 

"The top floor always felt so high, where the bright city lights blurred, and so did I.

That frozen puddle where we started, cracked and dirty, where love departed.

I stand there now, the air is thick with fumes and frost, but down there, it’s where we felt most lost.

I take a step—just one more slide, towards that slick, cold place where we used to adventure off.

Where we used to hide.

Maybe this time, I’ll let myself fall.

Fall into the frozen, filthy pool.

Where you began it all."