Innocence Lost

I stare at the house before me,
As flames consume it
This is the place where I grew up,
All the good and bad memories going up
In smoke.

This is the place where my father
Beat me, making fun of me and
Ruining my innocence
My mom stood by and watched
Doing nothing to save me.

This is the place I dreaded coming to
I never called it my home,
Instead it was the death of my dreams
The place where I was turned into
The empty shell I am now.

I walked through every room
Dousing everything in a thick layer of gasoline
Looking at the things that held no
Significance, walking out the front door
And throwing a lit match over my shoulder as I walk away.

I think of how my father died
I slit his throat as he slept, the last thing
He saw was me standing over him
His blood on my hands
I doubt he ever regretted the things he did to me.

I mourn the innocence of
The little girl who died in that house
All those years ago
Her parents never even
Gave her a chance.

I walk away from the scene
Of my crime, as a siren wails
In the distance
Without a back-wards glance,
I head into the unknown my head held high.