THE WRETCHED I followed you home, you invited me in I watched you freeze, as I touched you there You love love so much But not like I do Not the way you need to Heard you call for help, didn't stop Need you, "shut up," jeans on the floor Heard your intestines squeezing inside you Need it, bloody sheets, sodomy, first degree You'd say yes, or suffer the consequences Suffer I did, still I crawled to you Says the man I "loved," "do it again" Talk to his friends about the scales I'm dizzy, weak, collapsing Suffer I did, the doctor looks at me strange Call the intake nurse, ask about rape Beautiful girl, skin and bones Even now I'm still chained down Hiding from something I cannot stop Walk perfect and poised down the hall Buckle so quick when his fingers meet my throat Daddy's out, the neighbors gone, alone "You good little girl, Sweet, isn't it? Yes? There's nobody left that would ever believe you." It's already too late What do I have to do for you to stop hitting me? Please, don't force me I see it in his eyes, hand on my mouth Tell me, what did I do wrong? I am dead now From his hand I got my prints done Just to be safe Blessed, he says, he's going to church camp Binding me to suffer, he's making sure I've told my mother the "real" truth "Blessed be the ones who experience the most pain" Tired and bloody, and I still notice it in Maryland, even after Tore me up inside, hands on the bedside Each day I opened the door, I thought it would've been different, but now I'm scared to go to sleep One-twelve, food looks like your violence Promised over and over to you that I wouldn't speak, forced me on my knees I am mocked in my dreams, her and him both And the worst part is? They all watch I was in the dark and then I felt her light I was lied to and every corner looks like a nightmare now Running I can't escape, can I?