Toxic Family

Five years old, I watched you leave, A silhouette against the door. You left behind a wound that breathes, A bruise that will not fade, no more. And she—my mother, cold and pale— Would tell me I was never planned. A mistake, a broken nail, A burden she could not withstand. But now I'm gone, I've built my walls, She calls me every single day. Her voice still echoes through these halls, There is no running, no escape. Toxic family, you poisoned me, With every word, with every plea. You broke my bones, you stole my soul, You left me empty, left me cold. I am the ghost you made of me, Toxic family. My grandmother, a queen of stone, Her heart a vault of bitter steel. My grandfather, he walked alone, His love was never truly real. He chased the night, he chased the thrill, While she grew harder, sharp and thin. And all the while, I watched them kill Whatever light there was within. I tried to build a life, a name, But she was always in my head. Her voice, her shame, her endless blame— She made my future hers instead. Toxic family, you poisoned me, With every word, with every plea. You broke my bones, you stole my soul, You left me empty, left me cold. I am the ghost you made of me, Toxic family. And then I see—through mist and haze— We are not special, we are all the same. Every family wears its mask, Every home a hidden flame. The fathers leave, the mothers grieve, The children rot, the elders weave Their tangled webs of silent lies, Behind the curtain, no one cries. The world unfolds like waking dread, A nightmare spinning in my head. We are the children of the fall, We are the echoes, we are all... Toxic family, you poisoned me, You are the world, you are the sea, You are the sky, you are the grave, There is no shelter, no one to save. I am the ghost, I am the stain, I am the sorrow, I am the pain— But what am I without your chains? What am I? What am I? What am I...? Toxic family... toxic world... Where do I go now...?