Of Monsters and Men: A Poetry, Short Story and Song Anthology

Madison

I watched you through tinted glass, your beautiful self blurred and darkened as I watched you come and go every day. You always had a sparkle in your eyes, always had a smile on your face and always had that bubbly personality that I loved most about you. Every day you walk and walk, along the stone pavement.

They always looked at you with feastful eyes at your endless beauty. I used to pass you by at school and you used to smile at me. I liked the way you laughed at my jokes and I liked the way you see the good in everyone even when they're bad. You used to sit at the very front of the class, always the first to put your hand up and answer a question with finesse.

 Everyone loved you, the teachers saw a bright young woman blossoming with talent. You used to sing like an angel, every day when you were alone. There were these flowers, those white roses that made you shine ever more. I used to pick one once a week and place one at your door.

One day you didn't go for your usual walk, never had that rose in your hair. The sun was setting and the shadows were settling in yet still you weren't back. I watched by my windowsill waiting for you that night.

 But you never showed up, never walked back. I thought that you slept over someone's house but how wrong was I that night. You never came back the next day or the day after that. I picked the white roses and placed them at your door but they never left that spot. I watched every day by the window waiting for you but you never came back not even at school.

Your friends your worried sick, your parents in tears ad I bypassed your locker, abandoned and locked. I watched the television to see if you were missing but not a whisper, not a poster nor a name appeared. I walked past all the usual spots where you used to sing in but none of them contained you in nor your angelic voice.

The roses were withering away and fading into black, each day and night, dawn and dusk, rising moon and setting sun, you never came back. Then one day when I had almost given up hope that we'll ever see each other again. There you appeared on the news and my fears were realised.

Our mouths were open in disbelief and I thought this had to be a joke. But in all of my pinching, all of my shaking and blinking, you never left the screen, your beauty all but drained. Forever more my heart was torn and forever more I fell into despair as everyone who loved you saw those words flash across the screen. "Madison Grayson, age 17, has been raped and murdered." Out of everyone in the world...why did it have to be you...Madison?