first a single fly in the kitchen
knocking against the window like it wants to tell you something
buzzing by the peaches going soft and sweet on the counter
you laugh, swat at it with a rolled up flyer
summer coming in through a door someone forgot to close
then you find where it started
under the sink, in the crawlspace, in some seam of the house
nobody chose to look for
soft and pale and patient
feeding on whatever gets left too long in the dark
already there before anyone thought to check
now they’re in the light fixtures
they’re in your cereal bowl by morning
a low drone that never quite stops
the house didn’t do this to itself
it just had a crack somewhere, the way every house does
and something slipped in through the seam and stayed
the people who love you don’t leave
they stand steady in your doorway, newspaper still in hand
not because they know how to fix a house like this
but because leaving was never on the list
they’d choose this every single time, given the choice again
this is not a debt you owe them
love doesn’t keep a running tally, it just shows up again tomorrow
love just kept the light on and called it nothing
some nights all they do is sit with you in the drone
not swatting, not fixing, just breathing the same thick air
so you’re not the only thing awake in it
they keep the window open no matter how long it takes
some nights that open window is the only prayer they know how to say
but a window is not a hand that reaches in and carries you out
someone can hold a door
only you can walk through it
someone can clear every fly from every room
but the house still has to want to be a house again
still has to remember, softly, slowly, what it felt like
before anything ever got in
so if you’re the house tonight
if the drone drowns out whatever you try to scream
know that the window is open, has been open, will stay open
know that nobody standing there is counting the cost
and know that somewhere under all that noise and nonsense
is the room you used to love being in
waiting for you to come back and find it
waiting for you to open the door from your side too
—lyra moon (devotion builds the frame, but only grace knows how to welcome a stranger home to themselves for the first time)
august 17, 2026