Solitary

Your toes don't go first, like you always thought they would.  Your stomach does.  Like, one day it's there, and the next day, it's just... gone. And no one really notices at first because your shirt covers it, so it's only embarrassing when you change for P.E.

Then a few months later you look down halfway through the day and you realize that your elbows are full of holes, and the holes are getting bigger.  Eventually they're gone too.

Your knees, your heels, nine of your fingers.  The left pinky finger with the scar on it takes a little bit longer but eventually that one dissolves too.  Finally your toes.  Piece by piece you continue to disappear.

You really get worried when the pace picks up. You're gaining at least one hole per day now, and people have stopped noticing the holes because they look right through them now.  If they don't see you, how are they supposed to notice that you're full of holes?

Your shins, your calves, your thighs, your forearms.  The soles of your feet stuck around for a while but they're gone now.

You cry the day your hip bones and collar bones fade out.  "This," you say, "this is as bad as it gets."

But the next day you can no longer speak.  Your tongue, your teeth, your beautiful lips, all gone.

For a while your eyes and ears, hear and mind are still there.  And it's painful because you can see and hear so much excitement and you can want it and you can miss it and you can feel so alone and think about all the people that used to see you, but you can't say anything because you don't have a voice, so you just sit there screaming in your head, and even after your ears disappear you can still hear yourself scream.

The last thing to go is your heart.  It's tragically beautiful actually, this heart just beating.  Pumping away, just aching as it sends blood to this invisible body, but that doesn't last too long.

Your heart goes, just like the rest of you.