Warning:: Story includes abuse and death

Song:: Concrete Angel by Martina McBride

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She walks to school with the lunch she packed,

Nobody knows what she’s holding back,

Wearing the same dress she wore yesterday,

She hides the bruises with linen and lace

With a fake smile that feels tattooed onto her face, she steps out of the house. Her long, dark sleeves and black pants along with the smile and fake cheer hide the bruises, and the scars.

She winces as she feels here backpack rub against a bad cut on her back. She knew it wasn’t treated like it should be, but she could barely reach it. Besides, a small bandage was better than none, right? Tears well up in her eyes as she remembers the pain of the night before, but her smile stays in place. No one notices her as she walks to school.

The teacher wonders but she doesn’t ask

It’s hard to see the pain behind the mask

Bearing the burden of a secret storm

Sometimes she wishes she was never born.

She walks into class just before the bell rings, and takes her place in the back, as far away from everyone as she can get. She carefully avoids leaning against the back of the seat, instead making it appear like she is.

Her teacher frowns as she sees her student all the way in the back yet again. She always sat there, always dressed in black, always with a fake smile. Yet no one else noticed. The teacher never did anything. There was nothing she could do.

Through the wind and the rain

She stands hard as a stone

In a world that she can’t rise above

But her dreams give her wings

And she flies to the place where she’s loved

Concrete angel

She stays after school in the library like she always does. Though she tries to avoid everything, she fails. A girl takes the seat across from her, ignoring all the other open seats. The girl smiles, and starts reading her book.

Eventually, she has to go home. When she leaves, the girl is still there, but she thinks nothing of it. She dreads going back to the house, knowing her father will be there, and drunk again. Just like always.

Somebody cries in the m middle of the night,

The neighbors hear but they turn out the lights

A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate

When morning comes it’ll be too late.

He hits harder, making her scream. He yells at her, he screams at her, and he pushes her around. She falls, hitting her head on the edge of the table. Silence follows.

Five minutes later, the sound of sirens pierce the night.

A statue stands in a shaded place

An angel girl with an upturned face

A name is written on a polished rock

A broken heart that the world forgot.

She looks around at all the people gathered under the tree. Some are crying, some look sad, and a few keep looking at their watch. But all are looking at the stone in the ground, with a name…her name.

Through the people, she sees the girl from the library. The girl smiles, and waves. She walks over, wondering how she can be seen. And why no one seems to be able to see the girl.

The girl takes her hand, and steps into a flash of bright light, taking the other with her.

Though the wind and the rain

She stands hard as a stone

In a world that she can’t rise above

But her dreams give her wings

And she flies to a place where she’s loved

Concrete angel

Concrete angel…