Eagle to Gladiator

I walked into a new school,

My old one closed and forgotten,

The tiles and desks all the same,

New friends, old teachers,

A game waiting to be played.

The playground was a mix

of the old and the new,

Flanders and Power,

Eagles and Gladiators,

The smell of the pines

and the crunch of chipped wood,

The feel of cold metal,

A land of excitement and thrill.

But the bristles turned brown, soft and dead,

The stories became lies

my friends began to spread.

The wood chips scraped me,

My heart molted and dead.

My freedom taken,

Wings black and rotted.

Girl after girl,

day after day,

I never saw it coming

All the fights and betrayals.

All the tears and the lies.

All the struggles to not die inside.

The school is not shiny

Its halls tainted blue

From Eagle to Gladiator.

From Kind to Cruel.

Alone in my armour

Now dead inside

Not everyone is a good person,

Not everyone is a good friend.