Sleep Deprivation

 Sleep Deprivation

Dead asleep
first rest she’s had in days
on a mattress stained
with semen and menstrual blood.
A condemned apartment
sanctuary from the rain.

His hands roam freely.
Dragged from blessed slumber;
she doesn’t even know his name!  
It doesn’t matter
too tired to protest.
If this is her sacrifice for shelter
so be it.

Her legs are wrenched apart.
His face contorts into a pained grimace;
unholy union.  
Her uncomfortable squirms excite him
slobber on her shoulder.
"Just hurry up," she thinks.  
Animal grunts in her ear.
His body seizes
confirmation it’s over.

His arms enfold her,
shit breath on her neck.
Finally sleep-
deliverance from hellish reality.
The fate of a teenage girl
running from a smothering religion.
She thinks this is freedom.
She will be gone before he wakes
thumbing another ride to condemnation.

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