this is what happens when
you walk behind
and alone
and no one notices
and they walk away
and leave you behind
and still you walk slowly.

and then it comes,
it catches up,
and hands reach for you
and before you know it,
before you realize what has happened,
before you've even registered it,
you've been taken,
vanished,
and no one knows.

and you look up
and the stars
are twinkling in the sky,
are taunting you,
reminding you
that you have never been
clean,
that you will never
shine as bright as they do.
and they are seen,
and you are not.
you don't matter.
you're barely a speck on the horizon.
no one needs you.

and you look out
at the lightning bugs
blinking, winking at you,
reminding you that
you have never been
pretty,
that you
are dark
and you belong where you are.

and then it comes,
it catches up,
and hands reach for you
and before you realize what has happened,
before you've even registered it,
you've been taken,
vanished,
and no one knows.