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Annie McLaughlin Dec 2016
I know it's late but I have to go
There's some family drama, I'm lying I know
The truth of it is that I can't stay here much longer
My brain is a mess and I think it's my father
I'm just gonna go, although I shouldn't be driving
I smoked too much grass and intoxication is thriving
I found me a spot parked 'neath this neon sign
I'll try to catch a snooze although it's almost waking time
As I drift off in peace in the backseat of my car
the old smoker's cough is a steady to my heart
Annie McLaughlin Nov 2016
Oh my God, that feeling
Do You feel it too?  
On my hands I'm kneeling
I see the ghost of you

And sometime in the morning
With the sun just hanging up
I see your spirit's touring
The town that we grew up

When my tears are slowing
And drying on my face
Is when the wind be blowing
And wipes your ghost away

Have you any feeling?  
Any pain at all?  
Hung up on the ceiling
Sorrowed as I call
Annie McLaughlin Jul 2016
He is the sun on a rainy afternoon.
He is the voice that fills the silence in your car.
He is the strong and the humble and the proud.
He is the laugh in the back of your throat.
He is the hand that gives you support.
He is the song that you keep coming back to, years after your first listen.
He is the insomnia that keeps you awake at three in the morning.
He is the clouded memory in the back of your brain.
He is the kind of love that you don't even know exists until you've had it.
Annie McLaughlin Jul 2016
When I was twelve years old 
(Twelve, for crying out loud!)
A woman messaged me, informing me of a modeling deal that I could be a part of. 
She had me call her on Skype and pose in my underwear in front of the camera.
I was going to be a bikini model.
The woman's screen was black. 
She told me to do innapropriate things to my body.
"I am just checking out your potential." 
So I did them, because this girl thought I was good enough to be a model.
And when I was twelve Years old, nobody thought I was good enough for anything, myself included.
Only after the call ended did I realize that there was no modeling deal,
And that it wasn't a ******* the other end.

When I was thirteen years old, 
A boy messaged me and showed me the type of attention I never recieved.
He called me beautiful and sweet and asked to see my face. 
The boy called me over video chat and began to touch himself in innapropriate ways in front of me. 
I didn't like it.
I shut my eyes and listened to music and lyrics in my head.
Half an hour was wasted of him telling me to lift up my shirt and me shaking my head no. 
I finally did it, and then I shut off the camera,
Because I did not want this boy to tell me I am beautiful or that he enjoys my breast shapes.
I just wanted to be left alone.

When I was fourteen, I got tired of being so alone. 
Another guy messaged me and asked if we could be friends...
I really wanted a friend.
He asked if we could hang out as friends.
So he picked me up and we went to the mall and shopped around like friends,
And when he told me to get in the dressing room with him,
I thought it kind of strange but i did so anyways.
Maybe this is what friends do! 
But my "friend" began to touch me and kiss me like no one ever had before,
And I did not like it,
And I told him no,
But he did it anyways,
And I suddenly did not like this friendship, anymore. 

To get that rotten taste out of my mouth,
I kissed a new guy
And this guy kissed me way too fast and too much 
But I told myself that I wanted to kiss him so that it wouldnt feel as bad. 
And when he took off my clothes and told me to touch him in places that I hadn't touched anyone before,
I told myself that I wanted to, so I wouldn't feel as bad. 
I told myself that I was overreacting when he kissed me rough and I cried into his mouth.
I told myself that I loved him when he threw me onto the floor when I finally said no. 
I told myself the only way for him to love me back would be to do what he says with no questions asked. 

When I was fifteen, in order to stop myself from slicing my skin into bits or binge eating at one in the morning,
I snuck out my bedroom window and met up with a twenty-something man 
Who told me we were going to go see a movie.
The movie turned out to be seen in his bedroom and we didn't watch very much of it. 
I snuck back in through my window hours later
With bruises and marks covering my neck,
And no matter how much I brushed my teeth,
I could still taste his lips on me. 

The safest thing I have learned in life,
Is that guys go after vulnerable girls,
And I guess I am one of them.
This is just something that crossed my mind.... And I realized just how true it was.
Annie McLaughlin Jul 2016
My shirt was too low.
It does not matter
If I fought back
Or said no
I was asking for it,
My shirt was too low.
Annie McLaughlin Jun 2016
This poison has taken over my body
I stumble and I fall
I laugh and then I cry
I wish that I could fly -
And so I test it
When did I get here?
What's with the white sheets?
I don't need medicine
Medicine can't fix me
Blur, it's all a blur
I think, I think I jumped
No, no wait, I was pushed
I don't remember, I can't
I can't remember
Love, why do you do this to me?
Annie McLaughlin May 2016
We are constantly being defined by labels
As if that is all that matters
Oh you're a teenager, all you can do is wait tables
Im a wife, I'm a daughter
Until all that shatters
Widow and orphan, newlywed or divorcee
Freshman, gothic, black or white, king and queen.
Workaholic, hobo, immigrant, pale face
The only label that should matter
Is us -
The human race.
I am tired of being defined by labels. We are all human and we are all to be seen as equals and that is what should matter.
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