We sit to eat dinner like a normal family,
But oh are you mistaken.
Our family is many things,
But normal is not one of them.

We can paint a pretty picture
But people don’t see clearly from the outside,
We are all holding knives to each other’s backs
If only you looked at thing from a different angle.

Father asked how my day was,
I told him I had a great time horseback riding,
Mother continued to stare incessantly at her plate
We all noticed but didn’t say anything.

I continued to speak of the fun I’ve had,
Mother mumbled under her breath
Sister piped in to ease the tension
Father got up to put his dish away.

Father made a coffee and a tea for Mother
Mother continued to sit at the table silently
I slowly picked at the food on my plate
Her pursed lips gave away her discontent.

Father went to the garage
Sister and held a conversation with me
While Mother was silently stewing about something
She opened her mouth to speak
I got ready for the worse.

Mother looked at my outfit and said
“Is that really what you wore today?”
It was a shirt and jeans; nothing wrong with it.
“Yes, why?” was all I replied

She sat on her thought for a moment continuing.
“Because you can see your cuts”
I sighed “ok, and? What’s your point?”
She huffed “they are nasty to look at”

“Then don’t look at them”
It was quite a simple solution
“You should cover them”
“If you don’t like them stop looking”

Mother got angry and stood up with a huff
“Why would you do such a stupid thing?!”
I bit my tongue
“It didn’t feel stupid at the time”

Mother continued to scream and cuss
I did my best to hold back the tears
Sister told Mother to stop
But Mother continued anyways

“You are so stupid, it doesn’t make sense”
A tear slowly escaped
“Cutting is dumb and you’re dumb for doing it”
I stayed silent
“I don’t understand why you would cut”
“Are you doing it to fit in?”
“Are you part of a cutting pact with your little friends?”
“Who told you to do this?”
“I thought you were stronger than that”
Tears flowed freely
“Well I guess you were wrong!” I shouted

Father burst in from the garage
He yelled at her to stop.
He made mother get away from me
Sister tried to comfort me.

I stood up and the chair flew behind me
My dinner plate was now scattered
I ran to my room crying.
Just once I wished we could have a normal family dinner.

– Not Your Average Family Dinner // F.C.