Fourth grade summer
You had two faces
And a knife, cleverly hidden behind your back.
Fingers clasped, waiting for the moment of perfect ambush
You had no pity, sympathy wiped clean off your features,
Blank slate, you were empty.

We were the best of friends and everyone knew,
Two peas in a pod, long lost sisters, close as can be.
We ran across wood chips, playing Tag in the summer sun,
Shared fancy lead pencils and oatmeal cookies during lunch,
Coordinated our outfits and wore them on the same day,
A perfect friendship.

Tell me, what changed your heart into stone
And made you turn the other way?
A sudden metamorphosis, a sudden change of heart,
All the memories we shared, evaporated into thin air.
Tell me, what fueled that red-hot hatred that trembled in your bones?
Tell me, was I really the one at fault?

What went through your mind when
You passed that piece of paper around,
Telling everyone to write one thing they hated about me?
They all did it, brainwashed and compliant.
A knife in the back, stab once, stab twice,
I was blindsided, left on the curb, you never looked back.

Did you feel the weight of those words on that sheet of paper?
The way they felt on the tip of your tongue?
I swear the words burned right through.
You started a wildfire in the middle of the forest,
Didn't your parents tell you not to play with matches?
Your hands were scorched, but you didn't feel a single thing.

At night I told the ceiling about betrayals, best friends, sheets of paper
I didn't get a response, and it was unsettling.
I thought about the goodness of people's hearts,
Reasons for their motives,
My tears were sharp like razors,
Salt on linen pillowcase.

Our mothers got involved, I hope that made you happy.
"Let's get the principal involved," my mother said,
And then you cried, I guess you weren't as strong as I thought you were.
I felt nothing, two can play it that way.
We never spoke after that,
Thoughts suspended in the air.

It's hard to forget about the fact that
People are so quick to listen, lacking reason in their beliefs,
Leaving logic and converting to conformity
Plastic people and plastic intentions
Something that burns in the back of my mind is the fact that
No one decided to step in, leaving me quite alone that day.

Tell me, did you feel a pang of guilt
To see your pea in a pod, your long lost sister,
Stuck in the middle of ridicule?
You didn't, you didn't,
That summer you lost your heart
That summer, I lost my respect for you.