my stepdad killed my mom and brother — i say it straight, no grace,

my stepdad killed my mom and brother — i say it straight, no grace, a morning cup gone cold, her favorite mug with lipstick on the rim; they told me it was dark and quick, a story tied up in his face, blue uniforms took his version, left me with the empty hymn. i feel the house remember every footstep that you faked, the hallway holds the sound of lies you braided tight and sealed; i learned how to hold a broken map, to read the torn and dated page, while they signed off on your alibi and called the wounds "healed." you killed them and walked away — you smiled and walked away! you killed them and my away — the law believed your play! you killed them and walked away, left their names to chill and fray! but i keep saying their names loud enough to burn the day! my brother had a girl he loved; a ring he planned to buy, i found a folded invite in a drawer — no rsvp, just dust. his laugh is in a voicemail that my thumb still won’t deny, her picture in his wallet, his plans, his future, turned to rust. she'll never get the dance he promised under streetlight glow, the coffee cup she kept for mornings sits untouched on the sill; you spun a final frame and bowed as if the curtains closed the show, they took your word and walked away — the silence signed it still. you killed them and walked away — you smiled and walked away! you killed them and walked away — the law believed your play! you killed them and walked away, left their birthdays to decay! but i keep writing their names on every corner of my days! you lied to the blue, you spun the last frame, you wore your sorrow like a mask, you taught the world the shape of false, then walked off through the static glass. i will carry truth like a flame — i’ll name them in the open air, tell the story of the coffee cup, the unworn ring, the phone that’s still there. you killed them and walked away — you thought you stole the light! you killed them and walked away — but i’ll keep up the fight! you killed them and walked away, but the names won’t fade to grey! i’ll shout until the world remembers, i’ll shout until the day! they took the most important people from my life and left a cracked doorway, i stand with their pictures, with their songs, with ruined plans and vows unsaid. you may have gone unbound for now, but i am the voice that won’t betray — i hold their stories in my hands; i carry them instead.