Scared of the Dark by Alyssa Shonk

I didn’t realize she was gone–
She left
without telling me.
I thought she was close,
like when the sun hides behind clouds,
but she was a dandelion
flying forcefully where the wind blows,
traveling deep into the oblivion.

The oblivion that the living only visit
in dreams
or times of sorrow.
When the weight engulfing their thoughts,
becomes too heavy to bear
and scatters one’s life to depths
they never expected to reach,
forces their heads to fall.

I didn’t realize she was gone–
until I became
an old jack-in-the-box.
The tired spring crumbling
under the pressure,
forcing me to remain hidden
inside the box, where no one can hear me shout,
bringing me into the oblivion of the forgotten.

A cold, crisp darkness encircles her,
but tries to comfort me,
as the hard floor turned to frost covered grass,
her door changed to a sturdy oak tree,
the ceiling dissolved into an overcast sky.
The four walls forced their way up to the stars,
as my pounding grew louder and louder,
allowed nothing to escape.
Forbid me to enter.

I realized she was gone.
Like ash swept away
by the cold breeze on a summer day;
Only left with a vague image
of her pretty pink dress,
or the memories of a wide-eyed child,
who believed the best in everyone,
forcing a smile on her face
to flash those who wronged her.

The oblivion took away my imagination,
my fantasy of a perfect life,
my Happiness.
But my little girl,
scared
of the cold darkness consuming her,
found peace with secretly disappearing
because she resents the person
outside of the wall.