Submerged.

What can the boy do when he’s at home?
But only it isn’t his home because every night he feels so alone.
When the boy’s father drowns himself every night in liquor.
When he goes to school and is asked, “What happened?” while his eyes are left low and bruised
He responds with, “daddy did it.”

Years of not being allowed to visit mom on his birthdays
Years of not being able to talk to her without having dad listen in on the conversation
Being told what to say, that’s no way to be raised.

Mom always responded with, “I’m trying; soon…”
Soon finally came.

What can the boy do when he finally leaves this hell.
When the darkness of the abyss that has had him engulfed for so long finally is lifted.
When he gets to be with his mother after so much time.
Hearing after hearing and the man with the gavel finally says he can be set free.
He suddenly has it all.
A mom, a sister, a NEW dad.

But the truth is,
The ocean never stops, it simply calms down for short periods of time.

What can the boy do when he finally understands why. 
Why he was kept away for so long, trapped away like a bird being locked in his cage. 
“Give them to me!” He hears every night.
Mom and new dad take so many that he hides them from them,
The shiny white pearls that they need so dearly,
He drowns them, one flush and they’re gone.
“What have you done?” 
They scream louder and louder.
He hoped it would make things better.

What can he do when a man without a meaning was thrown into his life.
“This is my house.These are my rules.” 
He’s heard it so many times before.
But not for much longer.

What can he do when mom leaves for a week with no sign of return
Left like a message in a bottle, casted away.
What can he do when he’s forced to return to his old home.
Back with the man who treats him as his ammunition
Using the boy to repeatedly to shoot at the mother.
“This is your fault. You’re the problem.”

What can the boy do,
When he grows up so alone,
When he’s given so many obstacles.
Wave after wave crashes down on him
Knocking him down, tearing away everything.
But he refuses to stay down.

Years fly by.
High school is here. 
Graduation is oh so near, he can feel his freedom,
His paradise finally being placed in front of him.
 He has been treading water for so long,
He’s exhausted.
But this is his life.
This is him keeping himself afloat.

But
What can the boy do,
When he comes from a broken home.
When the only father figure who was ever anything but nice to him is gone.
When the mother who has struggled for so long still can’t seem to catch her breath.
When the boy grows up so vastly different from everyone in the rooms around him.
He feels ashamed
He feels embarrassed
He feels, alone.
But what can he do?

“Graduation is near.”
He tells himself. 
“This is your life jacket.” 
Take it and never let it go.