Things just weren't the same.

   The flowers once flowing with color like a fire work pressured before bursting,
Did not
bloom as bright.

   and the birds,
The birds with pleasant cries of the lost warriors who had finally found their home,
were hushed
under
dark grey skies,
Weighing heavy on the ground
Like your mind weighed heavy on you.

   The island held a ghostly hue.
Home is where the heart is, but the heart is empty like the skeleton of where we lived.

   It was not ours anymore.

   This was where we never grew up.
This is where everyday was another adventure.

   This is where we fought pirates, and swam with mermaids.
We looted the seas, and took over the caves.
This place was ours.

   We'd soar through the skies, and sleep on clouds.
This place was ours.

     "Wendy?"
     "Wendy!" they called.

     The lost boys, they've grown up. The magic is gone.
It seeped through their skin, uprooted like a rag **** through cracked cement.

     I clasped a hand around the string around my neck.
Until My shaken ghostly fingers held the old oxidized necklace that held my thimble.

     Never land hasn't been the same since Peter had gone

"It's not funny anymore!"
I shook big brother,
Tears cascading down my face.
I looked up at the night sky,
The stars were falling.

Eleven years since I enrolled.
Eleven years I've been a part of this system.
And with open arms I would finally like to thank you
For what the school has offered me.
So thank you
For preparing me for the world.
Needing to prove in six lines or more why line A is parallel to line B
Will surely serve me nicely when I'm on my own and need to write triangular comparisons.
And although I don't know a thing about taxes,
I know to fear not,
Because mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell,
And that is the only thing that will be on the test.
And I trust your all-knowing judgment because you have never failed me before.
So you must be right when you say my little brother doesn't need to write in script
Because , as you put it, computers are the future.
There is no need to learn to write.
And I can't forget the ever-so-loving atmosphere distributed to me all those years.
I had learned to have a sense of humor at the young age of nine,
Because it was a joke to you when the other children told me to end it with a slash.
And all the assessments have served us greatly.
The loss of a history class to learn how to use a keyboard for testing
Could not have been time better spent.
Real life skills do not need to be taught,
Not when useless test scores are prioritized and focused on
Rather than a decent life lesson,
And all because they equal money in corrupt superintendents’ wallets.
That is what I have learned after all these years.
A sincere thank you is in order for the education supplied.
I have surely been taught well.

And in the 4 am sadness,

is what you say really true?

I really hate when people say, "just get through it."
Do they not understand the animosity it takes to breath through broken ribs?
Because when your kicked till your down,
And your kicked still on the ground,
How will you get through it when there is no one there to reach out a hand,
Pull you up,
And say, "it will be okay."
Because there is nobody there.
Nobody to take the blows that defeat your lungs,
To soften the hits that crack your bones.
They won't dust you off and pat your back.
But they'll watch the losing battle and tell you to carry on with swollen eyes and blood stained lips.

For me
Please don't leave here
Don't forget what you had
The life you built up from the ground
The relationships you have lost and found
The painful past is still a memory
And every moment with you
Is worth the pain
Don't leave