Voices

I know you can hear it.
That whispering voice
between your breaths.

I know you've checked the room.
There's no one else there.
No shadows deeper than black
within your closet
or under your bed.
No strange reflection in the mirror
with pinpricked glowing eyes.

You're telling yourself
you're safe.

The doors and windows are locked
there are not strangers in your house,
the sound is a fluke
a pitiful wheeze inside your chest.
No more or less.

But answer me this.
Doesn't that wheezing
sound like its coming from above you,
not inside your chest?
And when you listen closely enough
you can just make out
that it's speaking words
with every rasping breath
there are words and gasps.
Like the voice is conversing with something else.

There's still no-one else in the house
but now there are two hushed voices
mumbling and you can't ignore them any longer.