Drink It All Away (by Christy Patterson)

 

Drink It All Away
by Christy Patterson

Daddy called it Paradise,
A place filled with scents
And sounds
Mirages of things unseen by anyone else

Daddy said that sometimes
When the lights were dimmed
And Mommy was asleep in bed
He would go to Paradise

Claiming it was real easy to get there,
He told me
All you had to do was get to the bottom of a bottle
And when you look into the musty room within
You can see the birds of Paradise
Singing to you
Enticing you to join them

Mommy never did let me near one of those bottles though
She would always scream at Daddy when he told me the tales of Paradise
Then she would drag me to my room
Tell me to pack my stuff

But Mommy never did leave
She always came back after a few minutes with Daddy
And whisper for me to unpack

Still, every time Daddy told me about Paradise
She would repeat the process
Like it was a needed ritual

Injustice began to cloud my judgment
I wanted to see the Paradise
Daddy got to see

One day my resentment boiled over
Injustice settled into my bones
Rusting my joints and greasing my brain
To the point where inaction would have surely driven me to madness

So when darkness settled like a shroud over the house
And even the ants had been put to sleep
I went to Paradise’s cupboard
And sip by sip
Giggle by giggle
I made my way to Paradise


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About the author: Christy Patterson is a sophomore in Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center where she majors in the Literary Arts. She plans on going to England for college.