From the outside, they may appear perfect,

although what you don’t know is that they each sacrifice their emotional stability

for this preconceived ideology of traditional living.

Behind the scenes the story is entirely different,

behind the scenes, they are no perfect family.

They are bursting at the seams

oscillating between extremes

LISTEN TO ME she wants to scream,

though her hollow words carry little to no meaning

compared to all the things they say that are demeaning.

They stand at the crossroads with their hearts in their hands, bleeding

needing nothing more than to free themselves

from the heavy shackles all around that bind them to the ground

from the resonating sound of a single threat: divorce.

SHE CAN’T FORCE them to love each other,

but she knows how much easier it would be if they stayed together.

Its twisted and sadistic but she’d feel like another anomaly,

researched and studied, her data compiled into encyclopedias and shelved for a rainy day,

gathering dust like the soul underneath that’s withering away.

She knows children will look at her numbers someday,

thinking that their own mommy and daddy’s “I love you’s” will never run out.

She was once that little girl too

living in her own imaginary, optimistic world,

Indulging in that goodness which in all actuality, hid the reality of her predicament.

But now she is anything but little,

she is old enough to see the pain behind their eyes,

to see straight through their lies and their disguise.

She surmises they fear hurting her, but the pain has never left.

You see, she is the daughter, the byproduct of a relationship with an obvious hamartia

this disheartening idea that by definition she is fated to follow in their footsteps frightens her.

But there is no going back.

As of right now, here she is.

This is real.

She’s standing at the end of infinity

and the choice to redefine their relationship rests not with her,

but with the words “love unconditionally.”