Poetry by Dythandra

Homecoming

My summer job--my parents' hope,
My nightmare
Crashes suddenly to an end.

I'd found the 4th of July fireworks,
Borrowed a box, hidden under my bunk, until...

Later, when Herr Kampwarden was showering
A rather unexpected treat
And only a quick trip to the infirmary required.

My "friends" were weak,
No thumbscrews needed
To eke my name from smug lips

But I had accomplices, though none were named.
Not out of loyalty,
As much as disinterest.

Only four weeks left, no great loss
Office staff rather frightened of me
(or at least that one who kept crossing herself
every time I was nearby)
So they offered to pay out my summer
If I'd go quietly.

Trying not to giggle, I concede,
And even manage to look a little downcast
When they pay for the cab to take me to the train.

I left a home invaded by my mother's horrid sister
But I know she will be gone,
And my domain returned.

Then, awkwardness, when I turn up
Unexpected, at home and hearth.

I drag my gear in, and they cluck as I explain:
"That nasty camp manager... he kept...
...Looking at me"
Then, a meaningful pause, as I pretend to struggle
To hold back some tears.

They are doubtful, I sense,
So I drop my cheque on the table
Full pay for my early dismissal
Implies my tormentor's guilt.

"I should go up there and give him what for!"
My father blusters.
I smile to myself at his bravado
A man who put up with wet papers for weeks
Rather than confront the newsboy
Who tossed them in the birdbath.

My mother chimes in--full of support.
I glance at the clock--just about right
She's two drinks into her day.

There's no mystery there:
Two drinks--always agreeable
Four drinks--combative
Six drinks--maudlin
Eight...
Well, I'm always downtown by then.

Then the awkwardness returns
"About your room, dear...
It's sort of... occupied."

How can this be?
I've watched the calendar at camp,
Knowing full well, I couldn't be banished
Before Auntie had left my abode.
Besides, I'd have heard her canine rat
Were she still nearby.

"What?" I look at each of them slowly
They should know better.

"Her name is Sun; she's from Korea..."
I'm already halfway up the stairs,
As my mother blathers something
About her only staying a couple weeks.

How could they? My room--
Tarred with their epithets:
"The Pit" "The Dungeon"
and my personal favorite:
"That girl's own little corner of Hell".

What misplaced foreign girl could stand
A room like that?

I fling open the door--she's not there
But I see on the walls--K-pop posters over my Lovecraft,
And agony beyond all measure--
Hello Kitty!

I hear the bathroom door--I turn,
She's wearing the robe I've shunned since Christmas
And toweling dry her hair.

She sees me, a pause, and then a twinkle
In the deepest brown eyes I've ever seen.

"Oh, you are home"
A charming accent lilts the obvious
"I love your room, do you like my little... touches?"
She brushes by and steps into the room,
I glance again, and notice something else

One Hello Kitty is impaled on a gargoyle's talon
Another vomits blood,
While a third lies decapitated,
Its lifeless eyes frozen in fear.

I look slowly back at her; she smiles.

This summer just got a whole lot better.