Honey and Venom
I knew how it would end. It always ends the same.
Yunior Rivas
It’s sweet at first. Sweet enough to make you forget the sting that follows every time. It drips with lies you’re desperate enough to believe.
Just a taste. Just this once.
Oh, how it tastes. Like everything you’ve ever wanted, everything you’ve ever missed. It blooms inside you, a wildflower fed by your longing. You are as light as the breath you didn’t realize you were holding.
The sweetness never lasts.
By the time you whisper to yourself, I can stop, I’m still in control, the honey thickens into tar and the venom slithers in.
The dark hunger takes over. It gnaws at the edges of your soul, devouring everything soft and everything kind. It twists your thoughts until they’re barely yours, every thought now dripping with spite.
It was supposed to be the last drop. But the honey remembers you, golden and glistening to mask the poison beneath.
They all see your hollow smile, your trembling hands, the way you pull away even as you reach for them. They try to hold you, but the venom makes you brittle, and you snap under the weight of their kindness.
You hate them for their strength. You hate yourself for your weakness.
It always begins the same. Sweet enough to make you forget the sting. Sweet enough to make you believe the lie.
Just a taste. Just this once.