I tucked the candy bar in my coat

I tucked the candy bar in my coat,

slid past the cashier’s blinking eyes.

The streetlamp caught my shaking hand—

just a quick pulse beneath my ribs.

On the bench, neon buzzed above me,

smoking the night in cheap blue light.

The wrapper, crumpled, hiding under leaves,

whispered secrets only I knew how to keep.

I never looked back, but the silence swelled—

not relief, something sharp, and unsaid.