The girl lies on a cot --

The girl with hauntingly beautiful green eyes.

With nothing but a battered baby blanket to cover her emaciated body.

Her feet peek out from beneath the sheet, bloody and broken,

Just like her soul.

 

Tears start to leak out of her forest green eyes

And flow past the dark purple bruise that adorns her cheek;

Past the hand imprint that is wrapped around her neck

And drips onto the cot –

Drip drop.

Disappearing forever into the fabric;

Something that she wishes she could do.

 

The girl with exquisite green eyes

Was once praised for her beauty; her skin an envious cream color,

Hair the color of a fox,

Freckles strategically placed around her nose.

But her most acclaimed feature was the heart-shaped birthmark that lied next to her right eye.

The eye that is now swollen shut.

 

The girl with stunning green eyes

Is a canvas for her mother, who is the artist.

And paints the girl’s milky skin with different purple, red, and blue spots.

Spots that take weeks to vanish,

Only to get replaced the next day.

 

The girl with striking green eyes has lost all her hope –

Hope for a loving mother,

Hope that she could one day escape from this monstrosity

Hope that she could see her brothers and sisters again.

But all that hope is gone – gone with the wind.

 

And so the girl closes her breathtaking green eyes,

And falls asleep.

She dreams she is a bird

And flies

Up

Up

Up

And away, towards the light.

 

The girl never opens her magnificent green eyes again.

 

The next day, the police find a body,

A body with a heart-shaped birthmark

Placed beside her right eye.

And sitting right outside of the house is a bird.

A bird with glittering green eyes.