A playful glance turns to seduction, as eyes meet across the room.

My stare lingers and I fear she will have her way soon.

Her irises look like they hold the galaxy.

The illusion will last the night, disguising herself craftily.

Her black-holed pupils should have given her away,

But the seductress is cunning, persuading me that virtue is cliché.

She’s set the stage and I take my place.

We act like it’s pretend, but I go numb just in case.

Stepping willing into her snare,

Beyond convincing, I act without care.

No words escape her closed lips.
Everything she says is spoken with her hips.
And that’s all I hear.
“I’ll take you to a sweet and lovely place, my dear.”
Her lips part into a smile.
She licks her white teeth and I decide to stay a while.
I was blind to the noose she slipped around my neck.
I should have seen the loose floorboards nailed to the deck.
“No one will hear us on my back porch step.”
Put this on the list of things I want to forget.
“Walk a little further and I’ll show you what I got.
Don’t worry about the neighbors, next door’s an empty lot.”
I know I shouldn’t be here, but it’s too late to turn around.
She’s done this before, her lair is anywhere at sundown.
I’m frozen, unblemished blood gone cold.
“Never trust a girl like that,” is what I’ve always been told.

But her hips speak louder than the voice of reason.

The sun is setting and darkness comes early this time of season.

I make up my clouded mind and walk towards her embrace.

I imagine what it will be like- my hands on her hips, her hands on my face.
My vision tunnels, and my peripherals blacken.
She is all I see, not the boards that started cracking.

Then I notice her face darken a shade.

Finally I realize the dangerous game I’ve played.

The boards splinter and I begin my fall.

She laughs victoriously as I drop, loosing sight of it all.

The once coiled rope, with the appearance of a snake,

Now tightens around my throat, choking out my mistake.

Below the deck, disoriented by the darkness,

How tormented a soul to remain so heartless.

My eyes start to adjust and I wish they wouldn’t.

The scene comes into focus and I see things I shouldn’t.

Bodies of men like me fill this dreadful space.

Blood fills my mouth, defeat not pleasure is what I taste.

She slaps an old board down, covering the hole I fell through,

With rusty nails, she drives home the realization that I am screwed.

Through the cracks on the deck, I see her stand triumphant,

Atop her collection of victims, all too abundant.

Her alluring beauty I desired to partake,

Carried me to the grave, where there is no escape.

The devil bends down, and whispers through the floor,

“You will perish like the slain who have come here before.”

“Oh God, what have I done?” was the last thing I remember thinking.

I wish I’d been aware of just how far I was sinking.

---

{Even so, at my darkest hour,

Hope remains as a greater power.

This is not the end of me.

Part two awaits – The Rescuing…}