They press their lips against you

As Jude heard her mother's footsteps retreat into the kitchen, she timidly tip-toed down the stairs, taking care not to make any noise and alert anyone of her presence. But her efforts were futile—when Jude was two steps from the floor, the door to the office opened, revealing her disheveled father.

"Jude?" Stuart asked, surprise splayed across his face. "What are you doing here? I thought you would be at school by now."

Much to her dismay, Jude's bottom lip began to tremble. She bit it, hard, trying to stop the waterworks that she knew were coming. True to physics, though—apply enough pressure, and eventually everything will crack.

"Oh, sweetheart," Stuart said as he rushed over to his youngest daughter who had collapsed onto the steps. He sat down next to her and placed an arm across her back. Jude flinched at the contact, but Stuart didn't remove his arm. Instead, he even went so far as to kiss the top of his daughter's head, pressing his lips into the fire engine red of his daughter's stick straight hair.

"Who are you talking to, Stuart?" Victoria's voice came from the kitchen but grew louder as she undoubtedly walked towards the living room. "It better not be your little sl—Jude? Why are you at home? Don't you have school?"

With her head on her knees, Jude could imagine the look her father shot to her mother perfectly. Within seconds, another arm was touching her back, except from the other side this time. Victoria began rubbing small, comforting circles on Jude's lower back, and she instantly felt a little calmer at her mother's touch. Gently, Victoria placed a soft kiss on the side of her daughter's head, just like she used to do when Jude was a baby.

As a pregnant silence ensued, Jude didn't need to look up to know her parents were communicating with each other about her solely through glances. Finally, Stuart disturbed the empty air around the three of them.

And you love the lies they say

"You heard us, didn't you?"

Jude couldn't decide how she wanted to respond. Finally, she muttered, "It was kind of hard not to."

A pair of sighs surrounded Jude and she suddenly felt trapped, like a caged animal in the circus--always on display, always doing what someone else wanted, and all for the sake of someone's sick idea of entertainment.

But Jude was no slave.

"We're sorry, honey. You shouldn't have had to listen to us; you weren't supposed to," Victoria replied, but the words were hollow and meaningless to Jude.

"Everything's going to be fine," Stuart reassured. "Promise."

Sorry. Fine. Promise.

Bullshit.

"No, it's not," Jude whispered before she shook off her parents' limbs and rushed for the front door. As the door clicked shut behind her, Jude couldn't help but imagine that she had just experienced the ending of one part of her life and the beginning of another. It was like they always said—where one door closes, another one opens.

So where was the other one? Jude sure as hell didn't see it.

What's the point in ever trying

Cars flew past, whipping Jude's hair around and causing some strands to get stuck on her lips. She didn't remove them, though. What was the point? They'd just be blown back again in a few minutes.

The air was chilly, but not bitter cold, for which Jude was thankful since all she had on was a light jacket. The sky was overcast and everything looked gray.

Gray.

Dead and gray.

Gray and dead.

Dead.

Pretty much like her family.

Nothing's changing anyway