The Perfect Family

A slap to shut them up.
Screaming to terrify them to obedience.
Threats to frighten them to silence.
Teasing them to make them believe themselves
to be unimportant.

Looks like the old man
has every thing under control.

Crying echos
from the back of the house
where the youngest hides,
terrified to see him.

After putting up a fight against him
that only encouraged his rage,
the boy hid sobbing his little heart out.

Nothing but silence
comes from the middle child,
a girl at the tender age of eleven.

Fearing the man's temper,
she remains quiet around him
which is an oddity for her.

The eldest, being a rude teenage girl,
fights with him constantly,
only fearing what mental scars
he has placed among her young siblings.

Running away would be her solution,
seeing as she gets
the worse blows for fighting back,
but her siblings might as well be her children.
She refuses to leave them in such a state.

Smiles beam from
each and every one of them
when people are around.
Such a happy family
with a great bit of wealth.
That's all people see.

Nobody sees the longing
for help in their eyes
mixed with tears and emptiness,
nobody sees the straining smiles
that hurts their faces
or the clenched teeth.

Nobody notices the way
they shy away from the old man
and speak in either rude tones
or quiet, terrified ones.

Such a perfect family,
hiding bruises
and tears
but smiling to the masses.