Work Text:
Ring around the rosie
Ring-a-ring o' roses
You can hear the laughter.
You can hear it ringing through the old house.
Cracking under the weight of memories and long forgotten secrets.
There are prints in the dust from tiny, tiny feet.
There hadn’t been feet as tiny as these in the house for a long, long time.
You raise your arm, the cold light of your flashlight illuminating the corridor before you.
So dark.
You grab your flashlight tighter.
There are rose-coloured sores on your hands.
Before your eyes, rings start winding around them.
A pocket full of posies
There is something in the shadows.
It seems to you as if you can feel them grabbing for you.
Laughter rings in your ears.
The sweet smell of flowers reaches you.
It comes from your pockets.
With trembling hands you touch them.
They are full of posies.
Ashes! Ashes!
You can feel your throat tighten.
Even before you look up you know that they are there.
It is so warm.
With noses shaped like beaks and spectacles over the eyes they stare at you.
Through the spectacles you can gaze into their eyes.
But they are not there.
You want to scream but.you.just.can’t.
They are children but they are so wrong.
They close in on you.
It feels like you are suffocating.
We
And it is so hot.
All
They crowd you against the wall.
Fall
It feels like your blood is boiling under your skin.
Down
You light up like a blazing star.