There once was a girl who stood very still. She quietly listened to the words echoing around her and found the sounds of birds chirping and kids playing. “If I listen hard enough, it can’t hurt me.”
There once was a girl who stood very still. She looked past the obscene gestures and objects thrown to find the hidden colors in her mom’s favorite painting- hung delicately in the dining room. “If I don’t look, it can’t hurt me.”
There once was a girl who stood very still. She stared at their red faces as they watched and waited for her response. Hyperventilating, she thought “If I don’t respond, they can’t hurt me.”.
-She was wrong.
Heart on a Canvas 