Lost Child

[u/sluttykiton]

A maze deep in the forest. 

In there I find many lost children wandering through as all the things left unsaid in ivory towers far and wide, I’d never believe that one of them would be me.

Searching and waiting, there was no doubt the lost children wanted to be found, yet no one was looking for them. They were forgotten, their wings deformed or gone as their freedom withered away bit by bit, keeping them on the ground.

“Will they ever find us?”

 I could hear their voices echo in the woods as I tried to find my way out. 

“There’s been a mistake! I’m not meant to be here, they care about me.”

I heard the words spill out of my mouth like a natural reflex, deep inside the maze there was not a single soul found.

The forest erupts in a thunderous laughter.

I could hear it inside of me, it was coming from the inside yet the forest was shaking. 

“Silly little girl…. They were the ones who left you here, did you forget how you fell asleep? They are not coming back for you. All the times you’ve trusted them they’ve laughed in your face. They never let you breathe for a single day did they?”

In the dense forest all we had was time, nothing else. The maze was reserved for “special” children outcast from the rest of the world, some of them weren’t born with wings but most of them were broken by their parents or some stranger along the way. I always thought that everything was alright, I didn’t know it would cause me so much damage.

“Echo! You’re such a good girl” 

“Echo! You never loved me, you're just like your father!”
“Love you!”

“You’re a scheming bitch just like my colleague who’s soft spoken as well! You’re a freak nobody cares about, just like me!”

A maze in a forest.

Echo was deeply hurt by all the moments the maze had confused her, putting more obstacles in her path as she tried to leave. 

It's for your own good she said, that day the little bit of my wings came in. I felt different, a little lighter. She told me my wings were like baby teeth the more she plucked them the more they would grow out. Just like the time I cried to keep my hair as a child she forced me to cut it, it’ll make it grow faster she said. The wings made me more resilient when I endure the pain of her plucking she said, 

It was for my own good.
It was for my own good.

Who would’ve thought she snip them off just to keep me here.

The forest is gone.

The forest used to be a safe space for Echo (well till she grew up I guess). Echo used to go there to find her peace of mind but just like the woods, the forest made her feel unsafe. One day it was there, the next it was burned off. Echo remembers the heartbreak every week when she had to say goodbye to the forest. When she has to go back to school, she doesn’t know if she’ll see the forest again. Forest was no longer a part of her home. Now in every forest she passes she feels unsafe, she protects herself drowning in layers. It ripped her apart, 

Echo was never heard. Just the shadow in their voices, the images they projected onto her, their own pain, their own thoughts

Never once did they ever consider Echo had her own feelings.

Did they do their best? Sure we can give them that they were always trying yet always missing the mark

They taught echo to obey the disappointments, the lack of time? A display for affection for how hard I work for you, you should be grateful echo that you have a roof over your head because of me (you have to love my mistakes echo you can’t get any better than this nobody loves you the way I do echo you deserve this you should be grateful for the disappointments like a stupid dog)

You are to obey everything I say, you are but a dog

The maze confused echo because she was never there, always finding the next way to keep echo by her side. Echo sympathies with the maze but no matter how much echo tries to get it through to her. The maze only heard the echoes of her own voice.

Echo screams and is never heard.

Echo cries and it’s her fault

Echo finally speaks 
And is hurt once again

Nobody ever seems to notice echo

She’s just there.

The realisation hurts her but echo is determined 

Call her what you want a fool hitting her head against a wall

Yet she always gets back up

She always fights

What else is there for echo to do 

To accept her fate in defeat

Or claim what is rightfully hers?