March 0f The Wooden Children

Ta-thrum thrum, Greeeeaggg-AH!!!

Thrum-thrum-thrum, SMMASH!!!

These are sounds that I learned to avoid when I was little. I was never running away from monsters, parents, or even bullies but something much much worse- a girl! I could have sworn to you that there was nothing scarier than this girl in particular though; what with her black coil hair, pink hair bows, and booger crusted fingers, Chelsea Canson was the bogey-woman for me!

Remember that time you had me sell sandwiches to the kids on the block? Sandwiches that were made out of REAL sand though because you said everyone should use their imagination! Mhm! There was also the time you pressed my lips against the shower wall so you could see the ring of your mother's lipstick and then threw her pearls and nightgown over my round body... I don't think she was too pleased to find me standing in her high heels either though. From peeing in the sandbox, to eating mayo/bologna sandwiches (real sandwiches this time) in the tree house your dad built for you (jealous), making tents and sneaking gummy snacks when I slept over, bloody noses, truth or dare, first kiss, and best friends...

We told each other everything.

When friends died. When I told you I was gay. The secret to the magic meatballs. Love, family, virginity, spells, witches, wine, magic carpets, monsters, hurricanes, and family again. We even shared a silly pact name of the Wooden Children, because whenever people saw us walking down the street they thought we were brother and sister because of our skin color... brown.

So I have to tell you...

There is one thing though that I never told you. So please don't be mad...

I stole the key to your heart. I know! I know! Please don't shoot me after you read this. If you read this. Please don't leave a scar on my belly again! Please oh please don't start tearing off my limbs like you did to your Barbie doll! I was young! I was stupid!

I stole it when you were sleeping one night. That night after we talked about our... real famalies. I went into your Pollypocket collection and opened up the set that looked like the big pink star... and I looked in the secret compartment to steal the key. Your favorite key. It's tiny silver heart with the hole in the middle and two round teeth at the end. I kept it in my underwear until I got home the next morning and hid it in my own secret compartment.

I'm so so sorry! But I can't give it back!

I need it for something important. Because you see... the other night, when I was going through some things I found out that it opened something other than your big pink star... It opened up something... scary. And. I need to open it again. So please! Let me keep it! Just until I figure out what to do, then I promise I'll give it right back.

I really promise! And you can trust me! I'll tell you what it was for because you're going to be just as frightened and surprised as I was to see that we're still as much a part of each other as we were when we were known as The Wooden Children.