She cries herself to sleep
Whispers prayers to her God
Muffles she's sorry under her breath
Hides under the sheets
Afraid of what tomorrow holds
When she awakes
She finds her mother passed out in the garden
Her father's fist planted into her face
Leaving the red mark to grow
Her eye blackened
Swallowed by the swelling
She doesn't know how to help her mother
She dresses her busted lip
Puts ice on her mothers cheek
When her mother awakes
She yells at her
Says she doesn't need her help
That she is the reason for all of this
The reason the rent hasn't been paid
The reason the water is getting shut off
So she runs as fast as possible
Running nowhere even faster
Then in the shadows of the midnight whispering moonlight
Her savior appears
Dressed in cold metallic silk
Breathing the smoke from the last cigarette
She wraps her arms around it
And lays next to the body before her
Writes the same prayer she whispered last night
And muffles sorry under her breath
As her mother finds the prayer
She silently reads it
"Dear God,
If you can hear me
Strip the pain from my mothers chest
Burden her with the grief of what she has done to me
****** my father in the back alleys of yesterday
Because death is the only thing that can save him
From the drunken monster he has become
By the way, God, I'm sorry for this
I guess you didn't hear my prayer
The very one I've been reciting since I was 9"