the light spilling through

the airport glass

SLASHED GOLD bars over esme's

SUNTANNED SKIN, kissed with

sprinkles of golden cookie

crumbs. the lights spilled

miniscule RAINBOWS over

her glistening eyelashes,

eyelashes brushing her cheeks like

dragonflies dipping into

a

pond

of

whiskey.

dragonflies

dipping

into a

pond of

whiskey,

dragonflies,

dipping

into a

pond of

whiskey,

flying

f a r f a r a w a y

esme's thirteen-year old eyes were

glossed with a plastic smile. a

beautiful dollhouse filled

with plastic beings

who had lost their humanities

and concealed it with a pretty surface

no one sees, no one knows.

no one hears the muffled tears.

no one... no one cares.

his parents smiled plastic smiles,

their eyes cold, crinkled with

faked remorse. he was only 8

but old enough to know that

his parents

everything is so dull

the PLANES fly in

slow motion,

flashing past like

subway trains,

shooting up like

falling stars

that could

never

grant a wish

esme's eyes were swirled

with OCEAN GREEN and open SKY,

as if the sky was bleeding (PAIN)T

dripping and mixing with the

sea because they could never be

completely apart. he stared

into them so he could memorize

the color of her nectared GAZE,

so that he could hold on to

the MEMORY as it faded

away like a POLAROID.

something flashed in her eyes,

as if she were slipping

away a FACADE when no one

was looking. he looked up

into his sister's eyes and he saw

a barren underwater wasteland,

CORALS bleached and the COLD

blue green salt tears

obscuring the gloom.

they were so indifferent that it scared him

she blinked and it was all

gone, replaced by a pretty plastic smiles

and sparkling eyes

the rest was all a blur.

he watched he hug his parents,

as if they were all molded

STATUES with no warmth where

their chests met in forced

embraces. he wondered if they

could even feel each

other's HEARTS between them

at last, she kneeled down

in front of him and slipped her

velvet arms around his skinny

shoulders, the way the SUN

would hold a FLOWER.

but the sun would be gone soon

"i

love you,

goodbye,"

his father held his hand too tightly,

looking down at him with stone

eyes as she turned her back on them.

"be a man," his voice was

so empty that it scared him.

his whole body ACHED and

the world tipped and squeezed

into his throat, choking away

his breaths and stuffing

his YOUNG chest with cotton. his

eyes stung from the pain. his

heart was too big for such a small

chest, so the world decided to

smother it completely with

all the tears he was

not allowed to cry over the

years as he BROKE and BROKE

and BROKE and BROKE without his

sister, his sanctuary, his

whole WORLD, when she

left for boarding school

as she walked away, her

figure disappearing through the

crowd of FADED jackets, he

thought she BLENDED in too.

just as dull and empty.

and he was the only one wearing red in a sea of gray.