“Please don’t talk so loudly, these walls are paper thin.”

You’re huddled on my bed,
Crying like a child, sobbing
(You’re shaking with every gasp of your shallow lungs)
Warning me of the boogie man
Hiding behind the door

“Please, I think he has a gun!”

You slur your words as you
Open yourself up to show your scars
(I already know they are there, I have the same marks)
I hush you, soothe you,
Try to keep you quiet

“It will be okay, he will be gone soon, I promise”

Somehow I became your protector
From the bad guys who seek to destroy
(You have a thing for the bad boys with hard hands)
So I hide you in my room and
Stretch my arms over your skeleton
(That’s all you are now, a pile of skin and bones)
And my heartbeats are used
To keep yours going
(I hope it’s strong enough, God, I hope it beats harder)
I coax you, encourage you
Attempt to mend you

“Lay your head on my chest, everything will be alright.”

I hope you will keep going
Because I need you
(I love you, I love you, I love you. Please stay with me)
I busted down that bathroom door
When you were locked inside
(I could hear your demons laughing right inside, next to you)
I bled for you, I bruised for you
I broke myself down to give you my pieces

“Please don’t do this, please give me that knife, don’t use it.”

You needed patching so I
Glued you back together again
(I stitched the pieces that wouldn’t stick and hoped it wouldn’t come undone)
And then the boogie man and
The bad guys disappeared

“Oh sweetie, they’re no longer a problem to deal with!”

So you took all of my pieces and
You left me behind
(I wasn’t needed as your protector anymore)
No bad guys to stand up to,
No demons to stare down
(You disappeared without a trace just like they did)
So I sat in my room alone,
Crying like the child that I was
(Wishing my mother needed me again)

"Please don't talk so loudly, mommy, these walls are paper thin."