No Pain by Erick Hennessy Drob

you see no mark upon my skin
you see no tear in my eye
you see no sign of pain
therefor I must not be in pain

I must not cry myself
to sleep at night
or wake up screaming
because of haunted dreams
I must not pull the blade
across my skin
and hope that one day
it drives in deeper
I must not fear the darkness
or shudder at the thought of silence
I must not hide myself from
life and prying eyes that
judge your worth as a person
upon the shine of your smile

you hear no gasp escape my mouth
you hear no horror tale from my past
you hear no words of pain
therefor I must not be in pain

I must not scream so loud it's silent
or throw things against my
bedroom walls
I must not kick and scream
and punch things that no one else can see
I must not drown myself
in the brown bagged bottle
in the hopes that i will forget
or tie the rope around my neck
and pray i find the courage to
pull it tighter

you don't see or hear my pain
therefor you think i feel no pain
you see what I choose for you to see
you hear what I choose for you to hear
you know not what she did to me
you know not what he did to me
you know not what you did to me
you know not the pain I feel
you know only what I want you to know
but just because you do not see or hear it
does not mean that the pain is not there
locked away inside of me, where it will always be

RAINING ON MARCH

I hate it. I hate the rain. We’ve been planning to go to the zoo to see all the cool animals today. Rhinoceros is my favorite. With their big eyes, hidden under the muddy water, you could not imagine they are that big. Alliya wanted to see the dolphins. She gets all cheeky when she sees one. Dolphins are great and cute too but Rhinos are always being my number one.

This morning, when we all had charmingly dressed up, drops of water felt from Heaven (my friend, Adam told me that Heaven located on the top of the sky). Dad said to my Mom that we cannot go because it was raining cats and dogs although I don’t see any dogs or cats anywhere, just heavy big gulps of water rushing down to the Earth. The sound was so loud; I can barely hear the sound of my Mom tried to calming down the crying Alliya. She can be annoying sometime if something didn’t please her. Honestly, I was devastated too.

The planning was constructed a week ago. I was looking forward to that since my Mom gave the idea.
Dad just returned home from work that evening and suggested we go somewhere that weekend. Mom said we could all go to the zoo and continuously told us the animals we can see there. When she mentioned Rhinoceros, I get excited instantaneously. I’ve seen this program about them the other day and since then I obsessed with them.

It’s been raining heavily for two hours. There was not even a single sign that it will slow down. Dad said that raining was a blessing. Seriously, I couldn’t understand that logic. How can something b e a blessing when it causing disappointment?



It was Wednesday afternoon and raining poured again. It will be the fourth time this week. I have been counting. Since the unfortunate event with the zoo, I kept blaming the rain. It was weird actually. I remembered the other day when I was playing with my controlled car; I heard the woman on the television said that it’s going to be a hot month this March. Due to the something that I didn’t really understand there will be less rain this month.

Nana said that rain was a cleansing ritual for the earth; to get rid all the impurities and made the earth pure again. I don’t understand some of the words but I am only eight, I don’t expect I will be.


It was a week after the incident and it was raining; again. I saw a dark green frog hoping in front of me. I tried to chase it into the rain and fell. My whole body was wet and rain water keep pouring down my head. I stood on my feet and chased after it again. I stretched both my hands and caught it. I inspected it with great interest.

I heard a shriek behind me and the frog slipped from my hands. When I looked behind, there stood Alliya, all wet. I smiled. She smiled. When Mom realized we were soaked with rain in the front yard, she started yelling and screaming. Dad asked Mom to let us go. We were children, he said.

Then something happened. Dad took Mom’s hand and pulls her under the pouring rain. I taught Mom will be angrier but suddenly she smiled and they started to dance in the rain. Alliya kept throwing me with mud and I dodged it away. We all laughing and singing along together.

This was weird because as I remembered, I hate the rain. Maybe Dad was right. Maybe Nana was right. Raining is a blessing. Raining is a cleansing ritual for our soul; to clear our body and mind from all the problems of the world and made we fell fresh again. But, what do I know about it? I am just eight years old. I think I better find that green frog again.

THE SPECTACULAR TOM'S CASE

There is a problem; a disaster if you want to be exact. The Bridesmaid said it involved a cute girl, the white kitten and a glass of cranberries juice. No one really knows the connection really and like it sound, it is a really eccentric and strange combination. For me, it only involves one individual and one only and as the consequences, there will be no show tomorrow.

To put it into simple words, so that people can understand, all these unfortunate events can be summarizes with one statement; Tom is missing. No one seems to know where he is or where he has been. The last time someone saw him was after Tuesday’s rehearsal. The Engineer said he saw Tom stroll down the familiar road only to disappear in the midst of crowded people.

Early this evening, when everyone was ready to start the last rehearsal, the Grave Digger a.k.a the Young Veterinarian realized that Tom’s seat was empty. We thought that he just being late, although it is very unlikely since he was known to be a very punctual person. When I said ‘very’ it mean to the extreme. He never late or even early, he always seems to be arrives right on time.

I tried to call his phones a few times but nobody answered. We broke into groups and checked our favorite places to hang out but no significant result appeared. When the Engineer volunteered to check his home, strangely no one knows where he lives. Even the busybody Bridesmaid didn’t know. All of us have been together for at least six months now, and it seems we don’t know Tom that well.

As the lead actor, he is significantly needed for the show. Not to mention that the show is called after his name; ‘Tom, the Spectacular’. I know, it doesn’t sound that good. Okay, it sounds terrible. Nevertheless, the show is expected to be marvelous despite the ridiculous title. There is a story behind it actually but I am getting ahead of myself. Let’s get to the bigger problem.

There seems to be only one solution. A very wise solution had been made after numerous discussions; Tom needs to be found immediately either by hook or by crook. But first an investigation needs to be conduct. The way I see it this is definitely a case of missing person. The eye witness includes the Engineer and the crowded people filling the familiar road. Now, that was a dead end.

Let’s move on to the Bridesmaid, who seems to know everything that’s going on around her or around others I think. According to her, this case was surely involves the cute girl and her white kitten who lives across the road from our studio. This accusation was seems to based on the fact that the girl looked mysterious and when I asked the Bridesmaid, she said and I quote ‘it was based on my intuition’. Another dead end.

The Veterinarian who is going to play the part of the Grave digger is probably the most reliable witness. Being the first person who realized the missing Tom, I am sure he somehow can help the investigation process. During the interrogation, I asked him where he thinks Tom is and calmly he said that Tom probably on some girl’s bedroom. He explained that it was probably caused by the movement of the moon and earth and blah, blah, blah. I lost him at certain point.

Still, something was not right. There was something these guys hiding from me but what is it? All the parameters were there but I couldn’t find the pattern. As I busily cracked my head with biggest problem I ever face in my whole life, the front door of our studio was suddenly open.

There, standing in front of the door was the cute girl and Tom was with her. The girl was smiling shyly to us while holding Tom in her arm.

“I am sorry, he came to my house last night and kept playing with Dinah and I couldn’t separate them. He fell asleep just now and I quickly brought him here”, she said while holding Tom gently in her arm. Tom purred softly while his eyes kept closed.

“Told you so”, the bridesmaid said complacently.

Well, that’s settle the case.