Awakening

The faint sound of bagpipes soothes my emotion,

The streets blanketed, by rustling autumn leaves,

My fingertips chilled by the cool breeze.

Eyes slowly close, as I experience, what will forever be referred to as, "the perfect moment." 

All of a sudden, this "perfect moment" was interrupted,

As clouds steal the sun.

The world dims, leaving just enough light for the shadows to awaken.

My once warm, beating heart, has begun to ice over.

The pain that followed,was nothing short of crippling.

It wasn't until I fell to my knees, that I realized,

These shadows, that creep like silent death, are mirror images of my mistakes.

Manifested from my subconscious to haunt me.

The smell of sulfur clings to my nasal passages like napalm.

It was at that moment I realized, I'm in hell.

Unable to fight the shadows, burrowing into my mind, putting thoughts in my head, most unkind.

Than a picture appears. A picture ever so vivid.

It is my last memory, lying in front of me.

It's a picture of my kids, once in pristine condition, now tainted with the splatter of my mistake and the edges slightly burned by the spent casing that lies beside it.