By: Isobel Gaedtke

Tears fall from the face of a child
She looks to her computer
To find a bad score
On the MAP test

She cries and cries
The pain of the failure seeps into her heart
It takes her soul and leads her to a dark place
She calls
Alone

She calls into the darkness
But her voice jumps back to her
She stares at the shadow in her mind
And lays in the cold darkness

She curls into herself and flees to the cold
She cries and cries
As the shadow takes hold

The drip of her tears lands on her lap
And spreads through her body
Taking everything in its path

Her body is darkness and her mind is shadow
She screams in rage and cries of fear
And all the while
She cannot hear
A sound