At four years old I lived in an apartment complex

Tan like sand on the outside, grungy and dry in the inside like the stale bread on . my kitchen counter

The first door inside was ours and the top of the stairs our neighbors

My mother worked midnight's and slept all day

Leaving my big sister to care for my young self

At four years old I learned what lock your doors and windows meant

My mother said it was to keep the monsters from coming in

But now I know that it really meant to pray that no one would break in and steal whatever belongings we possessed

At night the floors would creak as if someone was walking on them

The wind whispering through our windows, saying soft hymns

Every morning you woke up feeling like a winner, knowing that you survived the night

At six years old my mother met my now step father

He took us in and treated us as if we were his own

Today I'm fifteen and if someone were to ask me where I was from

My mouth would say that I lived in a perfect house with a perfect family

But my heart and brain would say that I'm still the little girl from the apartment

The little girl that locked the doors at night to stop the monsters from coming in