Velvet Tears

1

I wake up with a start. I had that dream again, the dream where everyone's chasing me. Farmers, wielding pitchforks. Bakers, holding red-hot irons that could brand me a coward. Everyone following me. Everyone wanting me gone. So I disappear into the castle walls, never to set foot outside again. And I cry. Waves cascading down my face and into a jar. Why a jar? Since my mom died, I have collected every last tear that came from my eye. I have five jars: one for my mother, one for heartbreak, one for nightmares, and two big jars for pain. The physical pain I have felt from the metal part of my dad's belt, day after day. He blames me for my mom's death. All people do. After all, my finger prints were on the knife.