A whole becomes halved and doubled,
With a single lie.
A truth more complicated
than math could prove to be.
She escaped a healthy relationship
into the wilds of addiction,
A decision that destroyed
and created in equal unpleasant measure.

He treated her like once lost treasure.
Ever appreciative of her presence in his life; it shined in his gaze.
and she found the light in his loving view,
To be burning too bright –
A sear on her secondhand heart.

So she lied –
An affair conjured from thin air –
Doubled down on a despair,
She knew would descend from it.

A whole becomes halved and doubled,
With a single drink.
A drive more complicated
than we all used to think.
She made the choice to turn
into the fogs of lowered function.
No compunction could have caused
Or killed chaos so all encompassing as this.

He gave her everything,
Much too much, and as such,
She became suspicious.
Instead of addressing him,
She spoke her fears and her ills
into the swill at the bottom,
of far too many bottles.

So she drank –
Anything to numb away a day –
Dragging her drinking companions down,
into a manipulative game they never agreed to play.

A whole became half and double.
With a single name.
A woman more complicated
than a sweet demeanor betrayed.
She hurt everyone caught in the crossfire
between herself and her self-destruction.
She slaughtered a fledging love and
Gave life to a rumor that may murder another.

Jessie Gutierrez