Nobody knows what really goes on in her mind, her life. In school Sarah is always happy always smiling. To everybody that is Sarah. Home, Sarah is a little different. Home, Sarah is sad, lonely, mean. Every day she is hiding, hiding from those mean words, the icy glare, the horrible thoughts.

I can handle Boogeymen. Pitched black darkness? Yeah, it doesn’t send a shiver down my spine. And spiders don’t scare me in the least. My childhood was never plagued with the ordinary fears that come with wiggly teeth and staying up past nine and times tables.

From dusk till dawn 
I search,

I look
From town to town,

This person I am told can give
A smile for every frown.

Up and down
These hills I look
I never seem to find

That person I am looking for,
Who is loving and so kind.

Look into my face and my eyes will
 More than that I’ll make you
I’ll slash and I’ll
and cut another hole in your mask.
And go around and make you scream.
Then I’ll make you jump.
And then you’ll trip over a bump.
Then you’ll turn around.

Mr. Raney was always a favorite of ours. Our neighborhood is one of the loveliest neighborhoods around. When he first moved in everyone breathed a sigh of relief because he moved into the ugliest and most neglected house on the street. We expected great things from him.

Staring into a vast,
 black emptiness
 counting sheep-1, 2, 3...
 Consciously lying under
 the matted black blanket,
 Until all consciousness
 has been lost out to sea.
 Soaring over mile-high waves
 of blue and green into the sunset,

She uncovers her eyes
She’s dying inside.
She’s starving from anticipation.
So much food wasted.
She paces the floor and drinks another glass of water.
She’s hardcore.
Her skin is tight.
She’s starting to show,

I awoke from the dream, still somewhat fatigued and ravenously hungry. The wheels beneath me stammered over the open road, bumping along like Morse code in tune to the music of the teenager seated beside me.

On the third day, we took the shortest way
Climbed a mountain and I stayed
Found my wings, and dropped down
While I died, heard a sound
And the sound told me things
That had once pulled my strings
Then I saw my true self