When faced with someone who is yelling
I suddenly turn into six years old
Standing in a shadow of someone full of rage
Knowing I will suffer the consequences
Of that untamed anger
When I am lied to
Suddenly I am eight years old
Wondering why I wasn't invited to that birthday party
Everyone is talking about
I'm told "You're too loud"
For then am I ten years old
Becoming a pathological people pleaser
Observing my surroundings
Staying quiet and unnoticed, as it should be
I hesitate to speak up
Now I've turned twelve
Scared to say anything
Because when I address something that bothers me
I become the problem
You turned your back and left
I am thirteen
Watching the soul I thought was guaranteed to stay
Become nothing but a memory
We question these things, the problems, and we ask what we did wrong
Where have I gone bad
But the answer doesn't lie with us
It lies with them
The one we know is going to stay
Forever.
