Abby the Stabby - 2

Not exactly a dream (because she's wide awake)

But a place in her mind for her sanity's sake;

Part memory and part old story book,

Nothing too big - just a safe little nook

Where traumas and nightmares that need to be buffered

Are shoved far away so that no pain is suffered,

And Abigail's taken to happier times

Of singing, and laughing, and old nursery rhymes --

A place free of limits, where logic and reason 

Or even morality's not yet in season --

Sweet little Abby (just seven, plus two)

Lives with her mom on 13th Avenue.

Her daddy was 'gone off to fight in the war'

But she didn't know why, or howcome, or what for...

'But someday, he'll come back. He has to. He must!

He swore, and he promised -- in Daddy I trust!'

Every night, without fail, he would come tuck her in

With a kiss on the forehead, and *boop* on the chin,

Sit by her bed on a small wooden chair,

Think for a moment, then, hands in the air, 

He'd pull from a stack of books up on the shelf 

(Knowing full well she can read them herself)

And read her a chapter (or maybe some verses)

From books about dragons and old pirate curses,

Of strange little girls in the strangest of places,

With strange looking people (with strange looking faces),

With magic and mystery (sometimes a rule

Like 'eat all your veggies' or 'try hard at school')

And Abby'd lie quiet and be swept away

By the sound of his voice at each word that he'd say --

The love that they shared, she felt deep in her soul, 

But now it's all gone, as if dumped in a hole.

And then, just like that, this new boyfriend appeared 

(At the time, he was friendly, so not to be feared),

And Mama was smiling more. Smiling a lot,

And that's when he started to stare, plan and plot

To have all the cake, and devour it, too;

Treat Abby's innocence like a cheap screw,

And away went the stories, the kisses and hugs,

Mama's too busy, out looking for drugs --

So dark it became, deep within Abby's mind

That coherent thinking was harder to find;

She felt the floor drop and her panic grow hotter,

The rules of reality rippled like water, 

And downward she tumbles, with no way of knowing 

How far she is falling, or where she is going --

And where she will land's not entirely clear,

But anywhere's got to be better than here. 

---