The Punishment

The fire lit up the small room And everyone looked with wide eyes As it danced before them in the silence. It enchanted its audience and made them Forget. They looked at it and gave it their Full attention as they sat and stared. They needed to forget the angry stares Of the townspeople, who hated them And sent the family to live in a room Where there was only darkness and silence. Their new house was a pain to the eyes With only a fireplace but nothing of theirs. The old man and his wife lived their Life but the innocent kids didn’t. The room Was a life sentence of misery in which all of them Could do nothing other than sit and stare At empty walls on which they fixed their eyes Day and night. They shared only silence In the pitch black hell hole. Silence Was their friend because it kept their Shattered family together. It kept them From pointing fingers and giving stares That showed the hatred that burned in their eyes. The crime was never spoken of in the room. They never spoke. Not even to the walls of the room. One word could break the carefully constructed silence That would force them to speak and make eye Contact. The one word would stop the evil stares The wife gave to the old man and force their Children to ask why he did it and why with them. The man would then speak and answer them, And their questions and give a break to the stares That he’s been getting from every single eye, Including his wife’s, who has been in the room With him for so long, suffering the silence. All they want is an explanation for why their Fate is this small, dark room full of stares, where their Father sits in silence with closed eyes. They watch the flame Burn out and have understood he will never speak. Never.