(100 word challenge)

A yellow rose falls to the ground and delicate petals scatter.

I know you can hear me. I know you can see me. I know with each passing day that you are walling yourself in a distant house on a hill, and you are drawing the heavy drapes closed.

I wait at the iron gate. It’s crowded thick with overgrown rose bushes that have been ignored far too long.

A thorn catches my t-shirt and blood is drawn. I cannot cry; the silence and indifference will become crushing.

We used to live together. But now you have shut. me. out.