Prion Entanglement

I get lonely as a peripatetic.
A wanderer of lives, an inhabitant of the in-between.
So I keep a pet.

It gets hungry.
I feed it.
It gets tired.
I let it rest.
Day in, and day out.

But lately it’s been getting lonely.
So I dissolve it in a tub of acid.
And I wear its skin.
And I try my best to resolve this feeling.

It still gets hungry.
So I eat.
It still gets tired.
So I tuck myself into bed.
Day in, and day out, it still gets lonely.

My pet’s skin begins to wither away.
Rotted by its unresolved needs.
So I melt it again. And again. And again.
And each time I change the person behind the carcass.
Until there’s nothing left of me.