Sofia won the joint-first place prize in the 12-15 years category in our 2022 Young People’s Poetry Competition.

 

hesitantly I saunter towards the door

rocks and pebbles screech under my feet

elegant flowers greet me, dancing in the wind

as I shiver, vines, appear, wrapping around my legs

only momentarily before they are gone

the door handle, two turns left and a gentle push

I take one step inside, fear envelops me

 

tubs of crystals and boxes of cigarettes lie on the floor

these packets of poison grin and giggle

my head turns to the left, mum is there

she smiles at me, with tears in her bright blue eyes

glass in her hair, her cheeks gashed, blood streaks on her face

my head wraps around reality and this memory dissipates

 

the voices are back, taunting me

daring me to look, take one quick glance

he sits in the darkened room, still, but menacing

an acrid miasma sits heavily in the air

he’s borrowed happiness from tomorrow, again.

this won’t dissipate, not today

a cacophony of voices, louder this time

the kitchen clock rewinds again and once more I am back there

she’s back, my favourite memory, but what follows is darkness

one last lesson is taught as the glass shatters

he stands over her, the blood and wine have become one

“you didn’t help, it is now too late”

the voices whispered

 

I return to what is now

without her this is not my home.

All that remains in this house is grief and sorrow.

And him