.

I have no nose.

I have no ears.

I have no eyes.

Only tears.

.

MY LULLABY

.

Snodin

.

"You're broken," he said to me. "I will put you back together."

He said that a long time ago. I believed him. I thought I was safe. I felt happy.

That was the last time I felt happy.

.

Now I'm here, in this room filled with toys, and yet I can't play with any of them. I'm not allowed to. Sometimes I reach out to touch them, but something holds me back, like a force field. I watch all the other kids play. I want to join in, but I can't.

They look at me funny. Some of them look scared. Why, I wonder? Can't they see I'm just a kid? Can't they see just how lonely I am?

One of them reaches out to me. "Don't touch that, honey," her Mommy says. "That belongs to the people who work here." The girl withdraws.

.

The nights are worse, because every night, they play my lullaby. That same song every night, it bothers me. It tries to make me sleep. I hate sleep. I'm afraid of sleep. Because every time I close my eyes, I see their faces...

They're in my room. They're in my closet. They're under and around my bed.

Their long, potruding fangs.

Their black, soulless eyes.

Reaching for me. Opening their jaws wide.

I wake up screaming, yet no one hears me.

He's back for another night. He's playing that song again. I think he's trying to keep me in. Doesn't he know that I can't move? Even though I want to, more than anything? Can he not see how much I'm suffering?

He keeps the song going.

I'm forced to sleep.

I remember their faces. The ones who broke me. I remember them lying on the floor. Now they were broken this time. I couldn't just leave them there, like they left me. I was better than that.

"Here," I said. "Put these on."

I put on their masks, their new faces. They rose to their feet. They moved again.

I fixed them.

And yet, they never come to see me. They never visit this room, the room which I can never leave.

I'm all alone.

All I have are these tears, and my lullaby.

.

.

I don't know how long it's been. Ten years? Twenty? Thirty? Yet I still feel as young as ever.

I have a new wall now. I can see my old friends. They're lying in a box in the corner. They aren't moving. Well, neither am I. But at least we're together again.

My lullaby isn't playing anymore. I thought that was a good thing. But now my dreams are gone. I didn't think it was possible, but I miss them. They made me feel alive again.

I see you.

You look just as scared as me. You're watching us. Waiting for us to do something- anything. You know we're more than just what we seem. You know. I can see it in your eyes.

He's out there, too. The one that broke my friends. I know he's out there, and you do too. But he's the least of my worries now. All I want now is to sleep again, to dream again.

Please, play my lullaby.

Let me sleep.

Set me free.

.

I have no nose.

I have no ears.

I have no eyes.

Only tears.

.

END (?)