Disclaimer: We do not own Law and Order SVU or Tracy Chapman's The Wall. You can find the song on her self titled album. We also don't own Prince's When Doves Cry.
A/N: We had to do it again. We know you're tired of us, we get tired of ourselves some times, but we're saying it again: Reviews welcome, flames too, suggestions appreciated. Gracias.
The Wall
Last night I heard
the screaming
Loud voices behind the wall
Another sleepless
night for me
It won't do no good to call
The police
Always
come late
If they come at all
Olivia kept her eyes trained to the wall. Her mother told her that it was sinful to meddle in other people business, but Mrs. Hinkle worked at her school, and taught her in the first grade. Mrs. Hinkle handed her a math book and daffodil for her birthday last year. She and Mrs. Hinkle had written their names, Serena and Andrew, on a yellow balloon and sent it through the air last week. Mrs. Hinkle was as magical as a dove, but her wings had been clipped. Mrs. Hinkle was like her mother.
And when they arrive
They say they can't interfere
With domestic affairs
Between
a man and his wife
And as they walk out the door
The tears
well up in her eyes
Her swollen eyes had met Olivia's before the door shut, before her mother had slapped her for being womanish and intrusive. But mother didn't hear, or she pretended not to hear, the screaming behind the wall. Maybe her own drowned them out. Yet Olivia has another sleepless night. Tomorrow Mrs. Hinkle won't come to school, she has the flu. When Olivia comes home she loads up on lemons and honey, she doesn't want to catch what Mrs. Hinkle has.
Last night I heard
the screaming
Then a silence that chilled my soul
I prayed
that I was dreaming
When I saw the ambulance in the road
Olivia walked to school the next day in silence, though she hated the sound of silence. Everybody at school had a reason for Mrs. Hinkle's death. Her husband didn't like her meatloaf or she didn't give "it" to him right. Mr. Hinkle seemed to like "it" the way Olivia's father had given it to her mother. Men liked the darkest things. Mr. Hinkle told her she had beautiful eyes once.
And the policeman
said
'I'm here to keep the peace
Will the crowd disperse
I
think we all could use some sleep
Olivia saw the balloon, what was left of it, caught in the tree in front of her building. It sat in front of Mrs. Hinkle's bed room window. Olivia wondered, was it the last thing she saw, Her freedom hanging lifelessly in front of her prison, laughing at her, taunting her? And as for sleep, Olivia never stopped hearing the screams. Her mother was behind the next wall.
"So, this is what it sounds like when doves cry."
And she fell asleep.