You should know upfront
That there is no once upon a time.
That this is not a love story.
That liars kill their kind.
Boy meets Boy,
one day on a train.
It sounds like a love story,
and it might have been
(for what is a love story but a story about love?),
but then they meet
the Girl.
She sits between them,
All five feet
a clear-skinned mystery
they want to solve.
A pinch and a tickle
they get for their troubles.
But, that day on the train,
they find a promise
in her silver laugh
in her small hands,
in the voice of her eyes,
“I am yours.”
From somewhere deepdeepdown,
they feel a push.
Boy and Boy slip.
Boy and Boy trip.
(They don’t want to get back up.)
Something as stupid as
an upside-down frown
holds them hostage.
She goes to them,
to Boy and Boy,
one by one.
She touches and
heat is hot andwhispersarehotter,
Skin to skin and skin to skin,
“IloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyou,
is that okay?”
It isn’t,
But-
people can get used to anything.
There is a week,
and then two,
she isn’t where she says she is.
Boy and Boy play darts
dripping with doubt.
They find her,
one day on a train.
She is kissing someone.
Familiar,
like her lips kiss his lips
every day.
It sounds like a love story,
and it might have been –
(for what is a love story but a story about love?)
but Boy and Boy don’t believe in love stories
any more.
She feels a push.
She slips, she trips,
She wants to get back up.
Boy and Boy wear upside-down frowns
as they hold her hostage
until the train comes.
“Such a shame.”
“Terrible accident.”
“So young.”
“What an awful way to go.”
There is no once upon a time.
This is not a love story.
Liars kill their kind.
STEPHANIE ELLEN MOWRY 