Down the Rabbit Hole - Featuring High School Students
Family Observation by Jerica Starks
Poems by John Loy
Breathe by Natasha Ivery
by Jerica Starks
“Ok, who are you and what do you want?” Eve said to the linebacker that had been following her all day long, and she was sick of it. The guy just sat there at the bar and looked at her. For a moment she felt she had seen him before. No, I would definitely remember that face, but he looks at me like he knows me. “Helloooooooo!” She said while waving her hand in front of him. He never changed his facial expression, just simply said,
“What makes you think that I am following you?” Eve raised her eyebrows at that question. Ok he wants to play, I’ll play. Eve pulled out the chair next to the linebacker and sat down. Then she placed her index finger on her chin and pretended to think.
“What makes me think that you are following me? All day while I was at the mall you followed, and let’s not play the dumb game.” Still the linebacker just looked at her. “And what really made you think that you could follow someone, I mean seriously have you looked in the mirror?” And Eve did have a point. Eve was five seven in her flats and even though he was sitting down they were still at eye level, and if that wasn’t enough, his jet black hair was like a beacon in the town of blondes and brunettes and those eyes, there is something familiar about those gray eyes. Eve still hadn’t thought that she made her point, but then she saw that hi ears were red. She couldn’t help it, she laughed. At his puzzled look she had to explain. “It’s your ears, they’re turning red, total give away.” What she found even more funny was that her ears did the same thing when ever she got caught doing something wrong.
He smiled, and she took that as a white flag. He held out his hand, and she shook it.
“My name is Micheal” She noticed that he had neglected to give a last name, but decided to let it slide.
“Well, Micheal, would you like to tell me why you have been following me?” He nodded his head and smiled.
“Yes, I will, but I want to know something. I understand how you knew I was following you at the mall, but how did you know that I was following you now?” Eve couldn’t help it, she laughed, hard. When she was able to breathe she said,
“You have got to be kidding me. Number one, you’re sitting here at the bar by yourself, which could happen, but then there is also the fact that multiple beautiful women have approached you and you’ve turned them all down.”
“Which would give the appearance that I am waiting for someone, not watching you.”
“True, Mr. Linebacker, but you didn’t let me finish.” His eyebrows quirked at her nickname. “Micheal” she corrected quickly. “Two things gave you away. One is, you’re at a bar that has multiple TVs with every sport known to man, and you, instead of sitting in front of one of those many TVs, you sit by a mirror that is angled so that you can see me. You forgot the most important thing when you’re dealing with mirrors.”
“And, that would be?” he said honestly confused.
“That if you can see me, I can see you.” Eve looked as he sat and took in her words. He honestly looked disappointed, that she had unhinged his spying so easily. He shook his head in defeat. He was bested and he knew it. I almost free sorry for him, almost.
“What was the other thing?” he asked suddenly.
“Your drink” she added simply.
“My drink?” he questioned.
“Yes, your drink, the fact that you ordered water, when you came to a bar means you don’t want liquor. Then, there is also the fact that you ordered water with lemon and lime, that says a lot about where you come from. Then toss in the other fact, you haven’t even touched that water, and why would you. Guzzling water would mean you would have to leave to go to the restroom, and you can’t do that because I could be gone when you get back.”
“Now all these things separated might seem coincidental and a little suspicious, but from the same person, in the same day.” Eve shook her head to covey her disbelief. She looked over at him and found him staring at her and, oddly enough, it didn’t bother her like it usually did. Men often stared at her. She was five- seven with light gray eyes that seemed to contrast perfectly with her wavy black hair, that stopped just a few inches from her heart shaped face, and her body as her friends like to put was “curvy in all the right places”. Eve knew that she was nothing to sneer at. But his stare wasn’t one of a predator looking at his next meal, but of admiration, and wonder.
“You’re very observant, Ms. Fields.” She had to be. Foster care anit raise no fool. Since the tender age of five, when she was left at a shabby drugstore, and then shipped off to foster care, she had gained the ability to observe the hierarchy of a family and disappear in it. It was an ability that had spared her of a lot of things when she was growing up, but he didn’t need to know all of that, and he had just revealed that he knew who she was.
“Ok, Mr. Micheal, I am tired of the games. Please tell me who you are and what you want.” She looked him in the eye as she made her request. She wanted him to see that she was serious. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
“In all honestly, I was hoping after being under the scrutiny of your observational skills, you would have figured out at least who I am.” He looked at her then, really looked at her. The blank eyes that had been there before were gone, replaced by, Eve really couldn’t figure out what. She looked back at all of his behavior and his changing demeanor, and couldn’t figure out anything else.
“Mr. Micheal, I honestly have no idea who you are and what you want, and in all honestly I find my patience is running thin on the subject.” Again, he shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
“Can we go somewhere private and discuss this?” he asked quietly.
“No, we cannot.” It wasn’t that Eve was scared to be alone with him. She honestly didn’t believe that he would hurt her, and she always had her gravity blade sheathed on arm and her pepper spray inside her purse. But if they left the bar and he did decide to hurt, her she would have lost a certain degree of control. Here she knew the people and the landscape. Alone with him he could easily overpower her even with defense tactics. You just don’t put yourself in positions of disadvantage.
He nodded his head in surrender.
“Ok, Ms. Fields, we will do this your way.” He stopped and looked at her. He looked unsure. She nodded his head for him to continue. “Ms. Fields, my name is Micheal, Micheal Caroway.” Eve knew that name, it haunted her ever since she was little. “I’m your brother.”
Poems by John Loy
Colt
First came the drop of a pin,
Light and unperturbed,
A slight ping to cause a twitch
Telltale of all fear ever known,
The sound skipped across the silence,
Ringing upon each contact,
Each vibration compact,
An echo of a failing alliance,
Emotions of which no frown could describe
And no amount of time could explain,
But no amount of time would be given,
For in the split of an instant
The force of a decision was made
Delayed from the theatrics of a pin,
A body to meet the spherical incision
Upon the silence of a previous moment,
A body to dim the lights of percussion,
A body, no longer mine, to a grave
Steel
They filed us according to color,
Gender, and religion,
Upon a grid to ease the slaughter,
We were all the same, in the end that is,
But none of that truly mattered,
Not when the tanks came rolling in,
Nor the troops that marched behind them,
Strapped to the chest, their metallic toys,
Instruments of destruction not beauty,
Systematically pumping single rounds,
Into the head of each and every girl and boy,
The machine before me asked of fear,
If the thunder from nearby cities disturbed me,
With a smile he told tales,
Some of fire and some of bloodshed,
Some so abrupt there were no tales to tell,
Some so prolonged the tales were forbidden,
An order rang out against his procrastination,
A sigh from one mechanically so indifferent,
He raised his barrel slowly to meet my brow,
This pride of industry to be the last image I would see.
Unholy
Disemboweled on the corner of a street,
Somewhere beyond reckoning,
Neglected to wither in time,
But weather only does so much,
Numb in a ceased presence,
Enter in the heroine heroin,
I can manage not but a tremor,
As I feel your teeth sink in,
Somewhere out of sight,
Out of might but not mind,
Trapped inside I become victim,
To some madman’s impetuous design,
Vindictive and cruel,
Malicious and unforgiven,
You peel back my skin to reveal,
Nothing but an empty cavity,
Long since derelict,
In the absence of a soul,
I long to protest.
Build
Endlessly searching self perfection,
This fabrication in the form of a pill,
Never nearer to your falsified goal,
Chronically stretching self destruction,
Pushing the natural limitations,
Of an ever thinning membrane,
Verging the brink of devastation,
Ripping the barrier wide open,
Releasing your source of pride,
All you’ve worked so hard for,
Pouring to the floorboards,
A bloody twisted mass of pain,
Suffering for a senseless sight,
Worsening an imminent condition,
Power to a pitiful existence,
Dust
You lift your foot and flick your ankle,
Dust to cloud while you just chuckle,
You snap your knee and flex your calve,
Push weight forward, brace for impact,
Another cloud, another laugh,
Ignorance behind the first and last,
I must forgive, I must forget,
The fault is mine, not yours, not yet,
You are too young or perhaps too old,
Either way my burden to hold,
You run and stomp a ground of ash,
Not beautifully broken like shattered glass,
This is my life scattered upon the ground,
These are my dreams that you tread around,
Fallen dreams not but clouds of dust,
So tread timed joy and leave the rest,
Breathe
by Natasha Ivery
(For the starving urban artists and dreamers)
Awake
As you enter a new day
Dawn rises and spawns
Against a lawn
No matter if the grass is green or gray
You’ve awakened to a new day
A new way
To say
I love you
I miss you
I need to kiss you, feel your touch
Time encompasses shadows on my wall
As I rise and stretch, only to fall
Back deep into myself
Over and over again
Into darkness
Please spark this
Amazing but dangerous movement of so called coolness
Be cool when
The loud kids down the block start the party
Selling drugs, composing wicked deeds
Drenched in sexual sin and the pungent scent of Mary Jane
Better known to us as weed
When the dope boys start coming around
Luring teen girls into their trap, telling ‘em to hop in their
Tricked-out Caddy and head to a new town
Promises of luxury and jewels, an abundance of clothes
A new weave, colorful dresses with short hems and no sleeves
But really who knows?
Just breathe.
Remember that God is the one who makes the sun rise and set
Tears strong and wet on the face of the lost love
Enter the pearly gates, a sweet welcome from above
Just breathe.
Remember that He is the one who makes the birds sing
People think and children dream
Of better days
Sweeter tomorrows
A brand new way
To say
I love you
I miss
You
I need to kiss you
Feel your touch
Remove the chaos , the commotion
Direct my life towards the Sun in slow motion….
While not forgetting…..
To breathe.
