Pumpkin

Small am I.

Grow I must.

To become strong and robust.

What will my future hold?

Only the lush seem to know.

So I sit here and watch them

Grow,

Grow,

Grow.

The man who oversees us all seems to show them special care.

"What about me?" I want to shout but nothing comes out.

They're gathered up in his arms and carried away.

When will it be my turn?

Or shall this be where I'll forever stay?

Time passes.

Still he overlooks me.

While the others leave in masses.

Leaves are falling now.

Maybe I'll never be what he wants from me.

Coming again, probably to take the last of my friends.

Miraculously his eyes landed on me.

"Look how perfectly you've grown." He whispers with a twinkle in his eye.

As I traverse to my new home I see many who look like me and many who remain smaller than I've become.

We are all taken out of the truck and placed on display.

I beam gloriously because I believe this is where I was meant to be.

Watching people come and go, I didn't know they came in different shapes and sizes too.

"How cool." I proclaim in awe.

A lady who is carrying two little ones of us in her arms goes to leave.

I ponder what their future holds for she has such a kind face. I bet her home is a magical place. Just before she gets ready to walk out the door her eyes land on me.

"I'll take that one too." She points with a gleam in her eye.

"That's a great find. " he replies and helps me into her car.

I'm so excited for my future will be bright. I have no doubt that it will be a delight.

Yet I can't help but speculate and anticipate what new adventure awaits.

The little ones and I are placed upon the counter.

The woman who brought us home goes and turns the oven on. Coming back she grabs the little ones and gives them a bath.

"Oh what fun." I can't help but to smile as the two of them laugh. The oven warms the room.

"That was so compassionate of her, this most definitely will be a cozy and toasty home."

Mortified and imbued with terror at what she did next.

This "kind", "caring" woman began decapitating the little ones, one howled before becoming silent, and the other just sobbed. As I watched in utter horror she sundered them and ripped out their entrails, all while her face held a smile.

"How can this be?" What kind of sadistic monster did our father send us home with? Oh how I wish I had never left the garden where I was born. Once she's finished placing them into the fire she turns to me and grins.

"Your turn." She proclaims.

Everything in me begins to scream but it doesn't matter they never seem to hear what we say anyway.

She gathers up her tools of mass destruction and places me on a bag for my untimely demise. She scalps me and wrenches out my innards, placing them out before me.

Panic and terror completely consume me causing me to try to expue my guts out but there is nothing left for me to.

Suddenly I'm engulfed within darkness and just as I think the worst is over she begins to stab me,

Over

and over

and over

And over again.

Finally her perpetual undertaking ceases and I can see light again. Surely now that I'm oozing, seeping, and leaking all over this must be the conclusion.

"Please, please let this be the end, I thought you were my friend." I sob but to my dismay she certainly won't hear me.

*Ding, ding, ding.*

She leaves me,

Tortured and tormented.

Time ticks by.

The holes have stopped bleeding.

Maybe that really was the end of her oppression.

More time passed on.

Just as I'd found hope again she returned.

With a pie that she placed in the window and a knife that she carried towards me.

I wail in anguish wishing I could escape this unending agony.

Slashing and lacerating, removing parts of my flesh. Dismembering me for her own pleasure.

Night befalls and she removes the pie from the window putting me in its place.

She puts a candle within my core and lights it so its blazing flame can display how she so wickedly mutilated me.

Yet where I swore I would see panic and fright I saw joy and delight, more than I'd ever seen them look at me with before.

They loved what she had done to me.

I suppose I needed the anguish and suffering to become more than I ever could have on my own. I had to embark upon this journey to fully fulfill the purpose that was destined for me. Now I can shine bright in the dark, bringing light and joy where there was none before.

Thank you father for this home so through the struggle I could enhance who I am into the masterpiece you foresaw when I first began.