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I am crying...
Scars on the inside...
Internally bleeding, dying, suffering from the inside out.
I am crying quietly....
In the corner of the classroom.
Every time the teacher glances in my direction fixing her lips to say my name even when my hand isn't raised is the least of my fears.
No I didn't do the assignment, my options were to cradle my little sister to sleep, protecting her ears from her mother's screams, forced out by the blows her new boyfriend was feeding her, or do my homework...
The decision was made for me, so I sit in the corner of the classroom, trying to blend in with the shadows, hoping if I held my breath long enough, the noise from my inhales would disappear and they would forget I was even there.
I am crying loudly...
On the corner of your main street.
You see me daily, trying to cover your eyes with the latest newspaper, missing the latest story staring you in the face.
I am 12, not 21 but 12.
My father doesn't know me from his girlfriend, so I tend to suffer the consequences of his confusion on a Saturday night after his drinks makes him numb to my screams.
But I take it, cause if I don't he would move on to my 9 year old sister and I cant handle that.
And every time I wake up I look up to the sky as if to say "wasn't last night enough" and I walk to this same corner.
Holding my sign up, asking every car that drives by for money, looking into the eyes of the humans operating the car, hoping I could gain some fulfillment from their souls.
We are crying so loudly that the walls in which we go to for protection have ran away in fear...
I am your classmate, neighbor, daughter, son, mother, father, your friend, I am an extension of you and if you wanted to help, if you really wanted to know the story beyond my tears, all you had to do was ask.