She's Come Undone

BOOK

The One-Line Lyric Challenge  (13+) A musically-inspired challenge with writing prompts posted twice a month. Prizes included! #2293321 by Anni Pon

"Undun" 

"Undun" by The Guess Who


Lyric Prompt: "It was too late"

Undun

I didn’t know what I was heading for.
All I KNEW was I couldn’t stand living with my parents any longer.

I had a plan to appeal to children’s services. I figured my bruises would be enough evidence to prove my case. But my brother pulled the rug from me by asking my parents to be foster parents to two unfortunate girls.
Their plight was worse than mine. I saw the cigarette burns on Judys’ arms. I saw the filthy bilge water they were forced to pump daily to keep it off their bunks. How could I deprive them of shelter?

My mother used her curled tongue technique to ward off the girl’s angry father. Only a glass door and my mother’s fervent demeanor stood between us. She was a small woman but one of her many personalities was someone not to be reckoned with. She didn’t show the loaded deer rifle in her left hand.

Up stairs in a cubby hole in my room the two girls huddled. The eldest had broken out in hives. Her eyes and mouth were swollen, and she was hyperventilating. The younger one (my age) clung to her like Velcro.

My brother flew out that morning back to the navy and the Vietnam situation. My dad must have been working somewhere on the island.

“Don’t worry, Mom has you now. You are safe.” There was no doubt in my mind. My mother would be a hero. Sadly, not mine. I had already come “undun.”

I thought I knew what I was headed for. I was two and a half months along. It was too late to change it now. And I wouldn't if I could. My main plan was to make someone to love me.





inspired
"Booth Memorial Prelude"