It (#Wattys2016)

home hatchery

when i was five (or six?)

and life was a constant vacation at home,

i'd have these small, plastic eggs every colour of the rainbow

painted bright and well and pretty.

my sister told me that one day

if i showered them with all of my love and affection

they'd finally hatch

into huge, colourful birds who'd sing me songs.

"promise."

and i did.

i'd hug them close to my chest every hour of the day

and shield them away from any harm

and even though they didn't

have any ears,

i didn't let them hear the screams

nor the moans.

i told them we were happy

and i promised them we'd all wake up another day

and i drew pictures

beautiful, beautiful pictures

of what they'd grow to finally become

soon.

i didn't tell them what he made of it.

and i'd tuck them all into bed,

kissing them farewell and i'd whisper

a small wish to ensure

they'd always be safe,

even though he was always around

and he'd utter such, such terrible things too

he was always loudest

at night.

yet, one day,

when they were finally

gone

i never did hear any sweet, lilting tunes

to brighten my day.

all i did hear was only 

the constant wailing

of another little baby boy

upstairs.

A/N: Fun fact. Everyone I asked got an entirely different interpretation of this than what I originally wrote of. Like, I have four different stories regarding the persona in this piece from four different people.

So, you know what would be cool?

Please do share your own interpretation of this. That would be awesome! Haha. Thank you.