A Child of Pain: Part 3 Elisha pushed her chair nearer to her grandmother’s bed and gently rested her head on the mattress. She sighed. She felt tired as it had been a hectic week. She had gone to see her grandmother in the nursing home where she found the older lady on the floor. Grammie Willie had fallen out of her bed. The staff had called an ambulance which then brought her to the hospital. Elisha who visited her ever...

The ward was silent, except for the constant bleep of the EKG monitor. Her grandmother moved her head a little but she did not open her eyes. The tube going into her nose and an IV on her arm, made her looks like a grotesque scientific experiment. Elisha stared at her face, so worn and lined now and recalled how brilliantly beautiful she used to be. As she sat there, she once more went down memory lane: On the pavement of...

My grandmother tried to kill me in my crib when I was two months old. She’s dead now. Did I kill her? I don’t know. It’s not a simple question, and there are no simple answers. All I remember is being covered in blood, her blood, as I lay in my crib. # I never met my father. He was a passing fancy, my mother told me. Someone to keep her loneliness at bay. I never met him, but I’ve seen him, swimming in my underwater dream...

Once there was a little girl. This particular little girl was always curious. She was brimming with questions that spilled over in a constant babble of queries.  But with each answer she was provided, her curiosity grew. When she was small, her mother seemed to have all the answers. And as endless as the little girl's curiosity was so too was her mother's patience. Whenever she asked her mother a question, her mother woul...

You were born with your eyes closed What colour they were, I’ll never know Your chest was still, but you felt warm Your face was beautiful, with skin so soft My tears were wet, they ran down my cheeks My sobs were loud, but no-one cared My heart was shattered, and will never heal I created a life for you, in my heart and mind Where you are happy, loved and remembered You are my angel in heaven, who was born sleeping  

"Such pretty feet. I've always thought you had pretty feet, Mom." He washed and massaged her feet as she was lying in the bed there in the front room of a son's house. All her children were there in the house. Perhaps drinking coffee in the kitchen. Somewhere reminiscing. They were there. All six of them. "Well, why didn't you ever tell me that? It would have been a nice thing to hear."  She was propped up on some pillows...

An angel rode beside him This we believe was true What else could have saved him A crash only survived by fewThe doe just wanted to eatHe held tight to the wheel As it ran across the streetThe brakes let out a squeal The truck began to spin He's only seventeen Life has yet to begin Nowhere has he beenHe finally comes to a haltWrapped around a tree Nothing was at fault How could anything be A voice came through Crying into...

The first time I was 'around' death, for want of a better term, I was seven, maybe eight years old. For whatever reason I cannot recall the specific age I was or the exact time of year, all I know is that it was 2002 and it was either autumn or winter because of the series of events that led up to the deaths. If it was autumn then it was before my eighth birthday, if it was winter then it may have been after I turned eigh...

It was time for bed I got in My imagination had started My toys started to spin This was not for the fainthearted I held my blanket to my chin The wind started to howl Goose pimples all over my skin The horror would start now Banging on my closet door The monsters were now here Under the bed or on the floor I wish they'd disappear How many were in here What do they want I brushed away my tears Now looking very gaunt I hea...

Once upon a time, there was a great big flower, she had survived terrible droughts and floods. But now, wanted to plant her own seeds in the planting season. She planted her first seed. She kept it close so she could shade it and shelter it as it grew. The seed grew to be a beautiful flower. She was dainty and very close with the great big flower. The dainty flower became a great mother flower herself, spreading her seeds...

The day I found out about you was one full of mixed emotions. You were unexpected, unplanned but never unwanted yet I couldn’t shift the feelings of foreboding that I had. Uncertainty, fear, dread even, and the feeling that things were no longer within my control.I barely spoke of you since that day I said goodbye, I set your spirit free. You had been with me and a part of me for 28 weeks, but now it was time to let you f...

My worst fear came true My daughter talked with a strangerDoes she really not have a clueI told her endlessly about danger All people are not considered niceSome would love to hurt youThis would be the ultimate priceI pray I have gotten through A stranger can be good lookingAnd want to be your friendThey will steal you for hookingOr kill you in the end She told a stranger 'hi'I saw her do this yesterdayThank God he was no...

“Go on, get aht! Me and and yer ma ‘ave some business to attend to!” The little girl looked at her ‘ma’ slouched across the worn and torn sofa, the strap still tight around her upper arm and the syringe, with its old blunt needle, lying on the carpet below her outstretched hand. “I told yer, get lost and don’t come back until yer got summink fer the table, bloody kid!” The empty vodka bottle shattered against the wall clo...

From the moment he made youto the moment I saw you ruined,I always knew you were weakand that you'd eventually be torn. Your shield so small,you couldn't keep it up front.Your sword so short, it refused to stay put.Your armor so thin,a needle was all it tookbefore you were lying in pieces upon the floor. And yet I loved you for your flaws,and so many there were.But because you were mine,I really couldn't care. We went on...

The sun rose behind us, as I drove my motor home out of the campground in St. Mary's, Montana. We headed west, our destination Badlands National Park in North Dakota. This was the end of the first week of a five-week trip driving around America. The girls sat at the table playing games and watched, as the miles flew by. They giggled and yelled, when they saw something they liked. We drove I-90 from Montana into North Dako...