The Girl Behind the Curtain

More rats scurry out in the night now, crossing the wet street,

chewing through the remains.

The girl across from us was never sick. 

She kept indoors. 

She peaked at me from behind a curtain.

One of the boys down the street started bothering her,

throwing pebbles at her window, leaving ugly gifts.

His body was found in the deadend ditch, rats gnawing at him. 

They wondered why his skin was so blue.

Within a week, many more along our street had turned as blue as him.

Perhaps ours was never a real neighborhood

but just a place invented for memories of the dead.

Now I am the only one in our house left alive.

But I am safe as long as I stay in the light of the girl's eyes.

The Man Behind the Wall

A man on the other side of the wall whispered to me one night.

He taught me how to get revenge.

I pressed my ear to the plaster, huddling so I appeared to be sleeping.

I scratched in reply to his questions.

I followed his instructions.

Soon, my step-father was in the hospital, where he’d curse at me no more.

The next night the man told me he had been alone in darkness for many years,

so he was happy to help.

He explained that those in power had put him in the dark for helping the helpless,

as he had helped me.

But he wouldn’t tell me his name.

And I knew nothing of the strange gated area on the other side of our wall.

So, I knocked on the gate in the morning.

A caretaker showed me that behind our wall was only a sealed old furnace.