Arlington Town

*This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people is purely coincidental and unintentional.

Christopher Day

I wanted to be beloved,

To go down with the best.

Don't I get a double take?

I always get a double take.

There's something to slip someone,

A drink or money to buy it.

I was a star!

I just needed to relax -

That's what he told me.

I never wanted to leave him alone!

Jackson Day

We were a team -

In basketball,

In the band,

In keeping each other occupied

At those stupid family reunions.

Then he had to go.

Doesn't he know how unfair this is?

The band isn't fun anymore.

Nothing is fun anymore.

All the news articles and stories

Claiming they knew him so well:

Did they know his favorite pie?

What about the essay he wrote

That made his teacher faint?

I knew. But why ask me, right?

I never wanted him to leave me alone.

Greta Hansen

No one told me it was wrong,

The screaming and the shattering.

Father still kept me sheltered, fed-

Did I cause it? Was it my fault?

It always left me crying... scared.

She's scared too. We have to be.

In my head we're a family,

The world says otherwise.

Forest game keeps us alive,

Still barely. It's getting colder.

Why does he get it all?

Can I have some too?

She doesn't ask him anymore.

Come the end of winter

The home is empty.

They left as I died.

Amber Stevens

It wasn't until the next summer

That I had any idea.

There was no love,

No tenderness,

Just an act of extortion.

Viciously crafted

To make me enchanted.

If I hadn't left

When would they have stopped?

Would they have stopped?

Never have I felt so sick.

Every time I listen to our song

Hear that special name

It churns my stomach.

They wanted me to feel special

So special I could never tell anyone.

Successful. They were so successful.

Anthony Young

Sunsets.

Such a cliche time of day to die.

Funny, almost.

It's pathetic.

I let myself slip.

Asked him for something

He could never give.

Understanding.

He never understood.

Why would he?

It wasn't a requirement.

To be mayor,

He just had to smile.

Be pale enough. Pleasant enough.

To be mayor,

He didn't have to love his son.

He didn't have to see me as his.

Not after I said

I'm not his daughter.