My Little Box Poem by Lyrael Myrna

In my little box....

Watching
Waiting for them
Trying desperately
To realize
What on Earth was happening

Hundreds of people
Fly by me
But my mind and body
Are still so slow

I stretch my neck outside to see
Where they’re heading
-“Don’t get distracted”-

I’m still watching
Waiting
For my family
But there aren’t any signs of them…

“Oh God… What If…? ”

What if I had missed them?
Or left them behind?
I took my watch away for only a minute…
“But a minute is such a long time when you’re waiting…”

Mummy…Daddy… Liana…?

I can’t call out to them
The men with the big machines…
They’ll find me…
“You’ve got to take risks sometimes…”

If I were to get out of here
To have a tiny look
Would they notice me?
It would be fast…
They wouldn’t even know…

Carefully as my conscience
Began to take over
I climbed out of this
Dark
Enclosed
Disgusting Box
I must be quiet
THEY will hear me…
Success!
I’m out.

The sudden sound of a woman screaming
Drowned my quiet confidence
It was followed by the sounds
Of machine guns
Echoing throughout the courtyard
Only a few meters away…

There isn’t enough time to hide.
“Run. That’s all you can do. Run”

The minute I took off
There was a searing pain
In my left leg
It came over me
So quickly
I was drenched in blood
I collapsed in a heap

They can kill me for all I care
“I care…”

Go on! Get rid of me!
“I’ve got everything to lose…”

I wish that I was somewhere else
“This is my home”

When I was a child
There was my mama and papa
Reading me stories
Telling me how safe I am
And how beautiful the world is
Outside my window…

Mama and Papa lied.

The world (to me) isn’t anything
It’s just guns and desperate people-
Desperate to survive

This is all I know now
This is all my little sister knew

So used to the occasional gun to the head.

An hour ago
I was waiting, watching for them
Now I’ve killed Mama and Papa… even little Liana
Too lazy, too selfish to wait longer
I had to save myself.

What if no one was watching?
What if when we’re dead… we are just dead?

I mean surely this isn’t the end of the world?

But I swear if THEY kill my family…
I’ll resume
Watching and
Waiting
For them this time…
THEY won’t know what sleep is…
At all.