Skeletons hide in the closet

I got afraid so I locked it

But Baby doll was nicknamed Bones

And she's

Running around, checking mirrors

Might need

Glasses, her reflection's unclear

Her face was replaced by a man I used to know

Amontillado? What's that?

It sounds like a dream I've had before

Baby Doll's watching the floor

I bet she's hearing more

Then she oughta

Amontillado was held

In the wood that held her father

Thought I threw it in the water

But I'm watching my daughter....

If I started a family tradition, it would be this song- It'd be our song, and we'd sing it all the time, at all the events, and your coming-of-age would be adding your verse. So far, no verses have been added but my own, and it goes like this.

You'll find me in the Banyan Tree,

on the highest branch, fast asleep.

I'll Find you in the face of the moon

and I'll send you a song on the breeze...

you'll find me in a stormy sea

under the waves, dark and deep

and I'll find you in the ocean's blue

and I'll send you an old melody...

heyo, so...

trying this new thing for my mental health...?

I'll be unplugged and offgrid for, like, a year

gonna be wild lol

thx for supporting me in my journey, I'll miss u!

seeya next year :)

"I don't like the way he looks at you."

Who am I kidding. If I even had a boyfriend, he wouldn't need to say such things, for no one would ever look at me that way. Usually they just look at me all confused, trying to figure out if I'm a lesbian, or autistic, or a little bit of both. And I back, trying to figure out whether or not I care at all.

"Eight pieces, three days, four kings, two nights. Don't ask me which night. Night or knight, I've no idea. But that's what I got for you."

You blinked at me for a second, and I flinched. It was always so much to explain, wasted so much of their precious time, and never made anything any clearer. There were things I was never allowed to say, things they always wanted. Yet here we are, about to embark on the same old dance.

"The hell does that even mean?"

Yep, here we go again.

"Okay, um, let me backtrack."

There were certain words I was supposed to avoid, in order to gain trust and respect, and portray that my information was in fact, factual. Um, was one of them. I was never good at my word choice- never passed that part of the course. Desperate times, I guess. Something else we're not supposed to mention.

"You're first question, was whether or not you should embark on your quest to usurp the Queen?"

Your gaze darkened beneath the fading colors of dusk, and I thought you might push me off the edge.

"Sure, yeah. I did eventually ask that question," I rolled my eyes at you, "to which you responded, 'Should you?' like I should know! I'm asking you!"

Okay, but now you're getting on my nerves.

"Oh, my apologies, your majesty, I thought you wanted information! I didn't know you needed people to make your decisions for you as well?" I crossed my arms, smirking as you bristled, this time of indignation rat the cold.

"Oh, my apologies, your majesty, I thought you wanted information! I didn't know you needed people to make your decisions for you as well?" I crossed my arms, smirking as you bristled, this time of indignation rather than cold.

I actually almost began to possibly maybe like this cliff.

Yeah, right.

"I told you not to call me that," you growled, looking over your shoulder. As if you thought you seemed so important that someone would actually be following you. Heck, if I was following you, I'd be grossed out and be on my way in an hour. If this was the runaway rebel leader prince, then find me another rebel leader. This guy was a prick.

"Well?" I sighed, "you know the answer..."

You frowned at me.

I wouldn't have cared. I would've played the part and sent you on your way, gone to take care of things that actually mattered, if... If you weren't the key to everything. So much pressure relied on this meeting, and I couldn't tell whether or not you saw how much that pressure was killing me. The pressure I wouldn't have to hold if it weren't for this cliff, the cliff that started taking them... The people who mattered. They would know what to do. The future they so delicately crafted... And I might screw it all up. Stupid word choice.

"I'm going to kill her." You snapped me out of my reverie, back into this hell of a conversation.

I'm not allowed to approve. But we needed him to kill the queen. So I just nodded, adjusting my cloak.

"And your second question?"

I needed you to repeat it, just so that you understood.

"What do I need to do so?"

I nodded at you, taking a deep breath.

Give them a hint, and they'll create their own solution. Make them think it'll happen if they do it a certain way, and they'll do it. Be vague.

"Eight pieces, three days, four kings, and two knights."

"Or nights."

"Or nights."

Then you started doing the most curious thing.

You started laughing.

"Yeah, that's not an answer. You're coming with us."

"I'm- what?"

And before I could even register your words, or the scars on your face as you lunged closer, I was falling- the stars shining above me in the sky, growing farther away as I joined the others, falling ever closer to the waves of the unforgiving sea.

They're trying to kill me.

No they're not.

Why of course they are.

Why would they try to kill you? Us?

Maybe we're important.

Narcissist.

Positive self-talk, please.

Exactly. Maybe we're important, and they're trying to kill us.

What makes you think they would kill you? They're your family. They love you. And they've never shown otherwise.

Yes, but maybe that's all just a lie. Maybe we're not even theirs.

But what about the photos from birth?

Photoshop, easy.

But did they ever actually try to kill us?

Lizzie did.

She was just a child. She didn't know what she was doing. She's our favorite person in the world, nobody knows you better. You know she wouldn't kill you if it came down to it.

Yeah, but she could be in on it. You know that if she ever had to make a choice, you'd be the sacrifice.

We'd sacrifice ourselves, wouldn't we?

...

What about Mom? You know she's smart. If anyone could kidnap me, or lie about my entire life to me and then kill me it would be her.

Oh come on. Has she ever even once tried to even harm you?

She looks at me weird sometimes.

She looks at you weird.

Yes. And plus, what about Tom? He came out of nowhere, really, and you kind of look like him, even though he's your adoptive Dad... what if he was my biological father, and my mother lied about it, because scandal, and then they got together after all the drama subsided, at a believable time. What if they're watching us? All the time? With cameras? It could happen, you know, it's real. And of Course, they could all read minds, that's for certain-

Stop. Stop right there. I don't want to go down that rabbit hole again. And besides, you've already searched the whole house for cameras.

And with Dad, I mean, seriously- do you think he'd even have the guts to try anything like this? Do you hear yourself?

He could be lying. They could all be lying. You know it.

You're absolutely schizo, you know that?

Am I?

Oh dear God.

I mean, think about it. We didn't get ADHD, or Autism fully and legally diagnosed because she didn't want anyone thinking any differently of me, or me thinking differently of myself, and so that I'd be able to get jobs easier. It's possible schizophrenia is the same way. It's possible they always suspected, or always knew, and didn't tell me, thinking that might've cured it. Or, or it was part of a new experimental, like, possible cure for schizophrenia, which would mean they're definitely watching me and-

And it means they don't want to kill you. Problem solved.

Yes, but-

"Charlie, are you cold? Do you need a coat?"

She's interrupting your thoughts process. She could read your mind and knew that you were getting close-

Shut up. She cares about you.

Do you want the dang jacket or not?

I don't know.

We're literally shivering uncontrollably. Take the jacket. She loves us. She cares about us. It's the most obvious thing in the entire world. We're cold. We'll take the coat.

"I'm okay, thanks,"

Should've taken the jacket. She wouldn't think any less of us, she was offering.

Yeah, but what if it was a test?

It wasn't a test

But what if it was?

We're cold we should've taken the jacket.

"Are you sure?"

See, she can read minds.

For the love of Christ!

Can we say that? We're not even Christian. Are we?

"Yeah, yeah."

Oh darn you, Charlie.

Positive self-talk!

It's okay, we'll be inside in two seconds...

Rural England's got a funny way of being- old walls on every yard,overflowing with flowers of the colors white, yellow and blue, and the grass there almost never needs to be fertilized.

The birds sing songs all day and all night, and play tag among the moss covered churches and cemeteries, of which there are only one in every town.

There's only one way to talk and that's in complaints, for how else do you relate to a person? But in such a clean aired, green, peaceful world, the only thing there ever is to complain about is the weather. The weather that allows for dew drops on the dandelions every morning, and for you to lay out in the grass all day without getting burnt. In fact, there are so many clouds in the sky, that instead of the world turning Golden at sunrise and sunset, the world turns an eerie, quiet shade of blue.

I never fought for someone the way I fought for you.

Just to hear you say that you love me too.

But when I finally hear the words, you're screaming through your tears.

After all the dreaming, I never thought I'd be here.

I never hurt for someone the way I hurt for you

I never longed to hear a lie more than what was true

I never let them see me cry, never let them hear me scream-

I never told them what I did for a dream

But I never held anybody the way I held your hand,

The way you made me feel was something I'd never planned.

And I love to see you smile, I love to see you dance

I would do anything to see you happy once again.