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Can be read in conjunction with Tangled. But I posted it as a separate piece because you don't always realize how your actions can affect others.

A Simple kind of Innocence

They don't know… No one knows. I've kept my feelings to myself, bottled up inside. Letting no one in, not even her. I've tried, God I can't tell you how many times I've tried. But I can't stop wishing that everything were different.

I remember the stories, the lands from far, far away. The special box, toy and keychain.
They don't think I remember, they don't think I know.
But, I felt the pain, I cried the tears… I begged for forgiveness… I prayed for another chance.

I love my father I do, but that doesn't stop me from wishing that everything was different.

Late at night when no one's there, I open the door and crawl deep into the back of my closet and take out the special box, the one from so long ago. She thinks it's gone, but that night when I saw it in the trash, I grabbed it and hid it.

Deep down, I know it's wrong to wish for things that you can and will never have. To hope that the past was just a nightmare, a dream that can still be changed.
I'd like to believe in fairy tales, but the life that I have been forced down is not an innocent one. I may be a child, but I am far from innocent, far from naive.

When the lights are off, that's when the nightmares come. When I am alone and vulnerable, they pray upon my fears. Eat up all my wishes; feed me all their lies.

I remember him walking him walking away. That night so long ago, I remember… He left her broken, left her crying. They don't think I know that I didn't feel the pain, the loss. But I did. I do…every day.

I know she felt responsible for him leaving, that something inside of her wasn't good enough, worthy of his love. Through many sleepless nights those same thoughts have haunted my dreams… my nightmares.

Is a child supposed to know these things, to feel these things? To watch their parents crumble at their feet?

I've watched her try to shut off her emotions, to bury her feelings. But I have seen her in depths of despair, lost and forgotten like a small child. I've seen her try to move on, to move forward, to step away from the past, and look towards the future.
But, I've seen the world deteriorate at her feet.

I've watched and I've listened… They didn't always notice, they didn't always pay attention. I've seen them both in good and bad times. I've seen them turn each other away, and when they come back hold on tighter than before.

I've seen them get lost in the music; hold onto each other with everything they had inside of them. A gentle touch, a soft kiss, a sweet of moment of memories lost.
I've noticed him wipe away her tears, rest his forehead against hers and then leave her for another.

They don't think I know that I didn't pay attention… That I didn't care!

But, I have watched her change. Take a hold of the pain. Stand up, wipe away her own tears and take me in her arms. She held onto me like I was her lifeline… like I was her strength.

I often wonder what might have been, if I wasn't there to change everything. Would things have turned out differently? Would they have stayed enemies, been best friends or lovers… I guess we'll never know.

But I've seen it in their touch, the way she'd look at him when she thought no one else was watching. She belonged to him and no matter how hard they tried to fight it, it always comes back to that...

The End.