World War High School

Dark mountains loomed,

While the wind laughed

As it blew across the ice cold ground.

The only light was that of the moon,

Trees swayed as I got ready for battle,

My throat tightened as I took that first step,

Onward into where an endless war raged on,

That went by the name of High School.

I tucked my arms tightly against my sides,

As I made my way hurriedly across the marble grounds.

Through that cast iron gate that held torment and torture,

Held the laughter and name calling that cut me like an unsharpened sword.

My only armor was the pack that laid on my back,

Which held fifty pound textbooks, and two alternate realities,

That one day I hoped to get dragged into,

Where magic was real and underdog heroes triumphed.

Places where myths and magical creatures waited,

Instead of perfect beautiful girls and boys that found joy in my suffering,

As they armed themselves with words like ‘fatass’, ‘porker’, and ‘swine’.

While I could only bow my head in shame and pretend I didn’t exist.

Many of my comrades didn’t survive the mindless attacks,

They fell not valiantly, but in silence as the battle raged on.

Their broken voices still echo in the halls,

Where the lockers are still painted red from the blood that poured from their hearts.

And, I realize I was lucky, I survived when my life should have become a period.

But instead, like others, I got a semicolon.

Because this isn’t the end of my sentence; this is the end of a war.

A war called High School.