BLOOD AND BONE

Ruby, 10th - Sebastopol, CA
They think they know. They watch us interact. They think we are inanimate objects. They don't realize we have lives and souls, and hearts. They just can't comprehend we are beings with families, hopes, and dreams. 
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We were born in Petri dishes, held up by acrid fluid. Our families brought us here because they wanted us, more than anything. They didn’t know what would happen. They didn't know the small-well-meaning remarks that would flow towards us at all moments of everyday. They didn't know that every moment would be a constant repetition, explaining our normal to those who don’t understand. 

I can only smile and nod for so long, I can only stretch my answers to sound kind for so long, I can only take so much well-meaning curiosity, till my head burns and I want to scream, shout, cry, and lie. I want to lie that no, my family is not this new thing nobody can understand.  No, my family isn’t for you to study.  No, my family isn’t yours to lock away in a sea of your well-meaning questions. 

My family isn’t yours for the taking. 

You can think I am rude, you can think I am mean, but I am done caring if you don’t know basic human biology.  I am done caring if you are so spineless, you blindly listen to your higher power’s every word until his lies seep into your weak-willed skin. 

I understand humans are pulled towards questions, but in what world do people not understand how their questions affect the person? How do they not see our vapid stares back when we have to answer the same ignorant questions over and over, just because we decided not to hide for a single beautiful moment? 

Then I remember us, the way our bones were made from the same walnut tree, and carved from the same spear or how  our blood was gathered from the same metallic river. I remember how we held our fragile skins together, whispering affirmations through the holes where our ears should be. We roam the earth, and at moments we catch glimpses of each other, seeing a flash of curly hair, or the sound of a flighty laugh. 

We all roam the earth, waiting for the moment where we all reunite, and show the world that alone we are like insects, stepped on without a second thought, but together. Together, we can construct flamboyant murals everywhere to remind the world that alone we are brilliant, unique, and extraordinary, but together we are a force, and someday, our cries will be heard. Someday you will understand, your comments don’t just pick away at bits of our hearts, someday we will stop laughing at your ignorance, someday we will shed our skins and you will see the thousands of little gashes that resulted from your unenlightenment. Then maybe our pain will push you out of your world and you will see the scope of the harm you cause.