Inkpaw

"eight years old 
eight!
how?
when did this time pass?"
"when you weren't looking of course"
"I tried. . ."
"clearly not hard enough."
I still can't believe your eight

tiny hands 
reaching up towards strangers

glowing faces 
animated with the prospect of free candy

cheerily calling out
an age old phrase 

we all know and love 

"trick or treat!"

the wind howls outside the dirty windows 
as the lost souls howl inside them

trapped

the noise is unbearable
it pounds in your ears 

the sound of despair 
fills the dusty hallways 

Stuck
I'm stuck in this large
Metal box
Wedged between my siblings 
My siblings
Who are screaming
And coughing
And sneezing
And sucking in all the oxygen 
Leaving little for me

"down by the bay-"
we hopped happily 
from large stone, to large stone

"where the watermelons grow-"
your smile wider than the lake we played by 

"back to my home-"
I bump into you