Curtain Call

Curtain Call

Suzie Lockhart

The cadence of his voice

Belies the truth of words he does not speak,

The depths of his eyes no longer smolder

With passion, no longer holding the desire

Once there…before.

Before I removed the mask, he had delighted in;

A mask that once adored

Him—Lived for—Him

Obsessed over pleasing only him.

Until…

A fissure in the façade

Revealing a glimpse of a girl—

A girl I had buried,

An identity lost,

A mirror image, now unhindered

By chains, wound tighter

Through years of abuse,

Trying to fit in a world focused only

On the appearance of perfection.

Once the crack became apparent,

The façade

Could no longer contain years

Of the carefully crafted

Illusion of perfection…

An earthshattering quake ensued;

Destroying self-imposed restraints

I had not realized were created.

I was merely protecting a child

Once too young to understand

The cruelty of the world

Awaiting her.

A world unaccepting of less than

what societal norms deem acceptable—

—Until her final act.