A frightened 10 year old boy lies thirty feet from the door.
Another little boy has taken his knee and pushed this boy's head harder into the floor.
The room changes into a soft hue of resentful red.
What had the boy done? What had he said?

Further more why does it hurt so much?
Is he thinking so hard that he's lost his sense of touch?
And why can't he move his arm, he wonders,
As the grief wrought carpet starts to leave blisters.

"Say you're a faggot!" Steven Doss said from above.
"No! I'm not gay! Get off of me!" replied the boy who couldn't get up.
Steven's friends took turns watching spit fall from their mouths,
Landing in the helpless eyes and ears of a the boy who was too proud.

Too proud to humiliate himself, the pain tasted better.
"What pain?" he thought as Steven covered the boys mouth with a sweater.
"Aw he's crying." Kids can be so fucking cruel.
The young boy knew now that the kid with more friends makes up their own golden rule.

"Is it true you moved here because your Dad slept with a hooker?"
The boy didn't know you could be punished for the sins of your father.
"Say you're a faggot!" Steven pressed much harder this time.
But the boy could not respond, his breath became blue and fine.

The boy dreamed well on that afterschool snack.
He never told mom why he didn't want to go back.
And it's a shame that no one ever said a word about that day again.
Not even an apology, to a passed out 10 year old who had commited no sin.

Second days of school, are always the worst.
At least you can pretend your someone else on the first.
To today this boy has often wondered why,
When steven talked to other boys, he never made them cry.

The boy said he was sick, thats why he passed out.
The bruises on his neck were from playing outside, who was he to pout?
He never made a friend that year. No one knew the truth.
"This is who I am?" he thought. Now he hates his youth.

---

Don't feel sorry for the kid.
What's done is done.
The only thing I regret.
Is that I couldn't get up.

I tried so hard to stand up.
I tried so hard.
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
This is who I am.