Under the Pohutukawa

I gazed out the window at the steadily falling rain, drenching the small backyard with puddles.

Grey, grey, grey.

The weather marched my mood, stormy and brooding. My messy desk called to me, demanding that I finish the forgotten painting of the winged girl. Wings. I wish I had them, so that I might be able to fly away from this place, leaving the taunts, the worries and the forgotten dreams behind in a flurry of feathers.

I sighed heavily and plonked my head down into my hands. Yeah, as if I would be taken away on shining wings from this house. I heard muffled shouting from the other rooms, followed by some banging and a high pitched whine. I blocked it out, dismissing the noises by habit. My sisters were always arguing. They were like two spiders getting their intricate webs of clothes, boys, makeup and parties tangled together constantly, blaming each other when something went amiss.

I was tired of it.

The only time they would ever agree on something was when they were pelting me with their poisoned words and barbed tongues.

"Hey, look, it's the poor little geek!"

"Where'd all your friends go?"

"Oh, that's right, she never had any!"

"Why don't you just crawl back to your hole, hmm?"

I shook with anger, remembering all those times they had jeered at me, provoking me with their hurtful comments.

Closing my eyes I told myself, "No, they're just bullies, they needed someone small and easy to take out their anger on. What they say isn't true...Oh come on! I know what they say is true! I'm just a lonely nobody that everyone forgets about! All I do is sit and watch things from afar, hunched over my sketchbook all day. No wonder I don't have any friends..."

A tear rolled silently down my freckled cheeks. I blocked out the inner voices in my head, the same way I had blocked out my sister's arguing. Wiping the tear away with a sleeve of my grey hoodie, I cleared my thoughts and looked back out at the rain pit-pattering down.

Everything seemed to be that one depressing colour.

Grey.