A little girl sits alone in her room

Listening to the screams from down the hall.

She feels lost.

So alone in her room.

Her sanctuary.

She lays on her bed staring into the light,

Her tears her only company.

The sadness in her eyes

Are only a glimpse of the pain in her heart.

Her grades aren't good enough.

Nothing ever is.

Nothing she ever does is right,

Everything she ever says is wrong.

They always yell,

At each other,

At her,

At everything.

"Leave me alone.

Go away.

 Just STOP"

The thoughts dance in her head flooding her heart.

"Just once..."

She thinks,

"Tell me you love me."

She is never good enough.

Gotta be perfect.

Gotta Be the BEST.

Can't ever have fun.

She has to grow up, can't be a kid.

No sleep-overs.

No friends.

No life.

She looks at her mother wrong and she's grounded.

Again

Stuck in her hole.

Her room.

Her sanctuary.

She lies back and looks up at the light.

Almost as if to look through it,

Beyond it,

Past it,

Into the sky.

Into the darkness only lit by the moon and the stars.

They never hit her with their hands

Just their words.

Sometimes she wishes that they would hit her.

The pain would be less than that they already cause.

"Just once...

Tell me that you love me.

Tell me that you're proud."