Big Sister

A little girl sits in front of a warm fire. She has a book she can barely read on her lap. She has to skip the words she does not understand. And yet the story still makes sense. Her little black shoes and perfectly pressed dress is a reminder of the bad thing she cannot escape and as reads the final sentence a tear drops on the page. The allusion has been broken. She cannot distance herself from the truth any longer. The fantasy was only a temporary bandage on a gaping wound. She looks up and around the room. Everything is the same as before but new meanings have attached themselves to the familiar setting. The slippers beside the chair will never be worn again and the pictures on the wall hold the only hope left of the planned future that will never happen. The tears hanging from her lashes are the only aspect of her sadness she lets out. She is afraid. She is alone and yet she has to protect him. The girl walks on tip-toes to the small crib in the corner of the room. She is the only family he has left. He is asleep in blissful ignorance. The fantasy is over for her but she will keep the fantasy for him as long as she can.