She is seventeen - not quite a girl,
He sees this

                     A pat on the ***

The not-quite-girl whirls back
"I'm not comfortable with that, "
He looks at her then,
And almost....scoffs
"What? It's just a ****."

Her spine stiffens—
She does not laugh.

And even before this -
                   
                      Hands on her waist
                      A hand, resting on her collarbone
                      Fingers tucked underneath
                      the collar of her shirt
                      She moves it away -
                      He moves it back
                      There are fingers on her       
                      sternum now,
                      nearly touching her breast

And then he touched her *******

Twelve to fourteen
       A good girl she must be,                 🦋
               but with the exception
                     of fake notes
                          to skip P.E
                              Her nose buried in books,
                                sitting in the nook
                                of her mind,
🦋                       still dazzled by magic,
                         adventure
                     and love
                A soirée
           with the feykind.....🦋

The girl was only eleven,
when she first thought

                            "What if I went?"

When even escaping
to magic-filled hardcovers
could not ease her descent

School bullies were not all
that pulled her
towards the yawning void,
on eggshells she walked
around him,

being careful not to flip
his switch
He'll twitch -
see red
It filled her with dread
Better to stay tight lipped -

                Better to be

                                     His pet

By age ten her father had left

Gone to another land,

Fortune upon his lips

She cried for days,

She felt alone...

Bereft

●

The girl was only seven,
When he came into the picture
                      
                       Bribery by way of sweets

"Now I have her,"
He must have thought,
This was no mere caper

She wonders,
now,
if he meant it like that.
But at seven, sugar meant YES