"ALICE! GET DOWN HERE NOW!" I heard my mom scream from the living room. I sighed as I got off my bed, slowly making my way to the hallway. I could hear arguing coming from the living room, wishing nothing more than to have been born deaf; the sounds he hears at night tear him to pieces each night. As I went down the stairs, I could hear an audible slap from the living room; I felt nothing as I entered the living room, looking up at my two parents, his mom looking on the verge of murder as a Vaporeon stood across from her. "Alice, get your baby brother," Lisa commanded, a look of pure anger on her face; I could sense the insecurity in her voice.

I just stood there as my mom fell to the ground, sobbing into her hands. My dad moved to comfort her; I left when she started to apologize to him. I went back to my room and laid back down on my bed, turning on the radio with a press of a button. A CD started to play a wordless song, but it is one that I knew the words to. I got the song like this on purpose, knowing that it would reveal too much about my life if one of my friends were to listen to it; we all analyze songs to the point that we know the meaning to just about every song we have ever listened to as a group. I started to sing along, keeping my voice low to lower the chance of anyone hearing me.

Hey girl, open the walls, play with your dolls

We'll be a perfect family

I remembered the time PPS (Pokemon Protective Services) came to our house, the act we had put on to fool the PPS worker; I regretted not telling the truth in the interview I had as the eldest child.

When you walk away, it's when we really play

Memories washed over me as I remembered when the PPS worker had left; fights instantly broke out between my mom and dad, my siblings fighting amongst each other while I stayed in my room most of the time.

You don't hear me when I say,

Mom, please wake up

I was always the quiet one, staying to myself all the time, keeping all my words to myself or lightly in the wind; no one ever hears me.

Dad's with a slut

and your son is smoking cannabis

I closed my eyes as I recalled that night, seeing my dad with a hooker. Later that night, I caught third youngest brother smoking weed, his usual perfect green eyes dull and bloodshot.

No one never listens,

this wallpaper glistens

Don't let them see what goes down in the kitchen  

I rolled over to my side, unwelcome memories filling my mind's eye. I saw my two sisters fighting as they were cooking, getting more and more argumentative till Glace, a Glaceon,  grabbed a knife and slashed Pyra's chest open, her orange fur turning scarlet; I was lucky to have been there in time, being the only one in the family with medical skills. I could hear screams still from that night, the wall's paper thin all around me.

Places, places,

get in your places

Throw on your dress and put on your doll faces

Everyone thinks that we're perfect

Please don't let them look through the curtains  

I smiled sourly at the memory of all of us going to church thanks to our family therapists demand, the silver dress I had worn that day, the mask that went with it. I had overheard my parents getting a lot of compliments from us; the way we looked, the way we behaved, et cetra. 'How I wish we were perfect,' I thought.

Picture, picture,

smile for the picture

Pose with your brother, won't you be a good sister?

I could not help but let lose a short laugh in my mind, the memory of church coming back in detail. 'Why don't you bee a good mother?' I had thought as I threw on my best smile as we all posed for the picture.

Everyone thinks that we're perfect

Please don't let them look through the curtains  

I gazed out my window, the black curtains letting the moonlight spill into my room, sometimes wanting for our neighbors to see what goes on in my home to get us help. I had tried to tell a teacher about what happens at home, but she brushed off as a 'hyperactive imagination'.

D-O-L-L-H-O-U-S-E

I see things that nobody else sees

(D-O-L-L-H-O-U-S-E

I see things that nobody else sees)  

My parents never knew that I had seen some of the worse fights where more than one bone was broken on both sides of the fight.

Hey girl, look at my mom, she's got it going on

Ha, you're blinded by her jewelry

I could remember with a bitterness to my heart all the compliments my mom had gotten at the markets during the times I was pushing the cart behind her, all the advances she actually accepted; I had to stay outside to stand guard as I watched for store staff. I could have cared less if they got caught or not; they deserve it.

When you turn your back she pulls out a flask

And forgets his infidelity

I knew that my mom had a drinking problem; she had it ever since my dad first cheated on her, which was when I was six. I knew that wine was the only thing holding our fragile family together.

Uh-oh, she's coming to the attic, plastic

Go back to being plastic  

I paused my music as I heard my mom stomp her way past my room; she hated the kind of music I listened to like it was my fault I listened to it.

No one never listens,

this wallpaper glistens

One day they'll see what goes down in the kitchen  

I knew it was only a matter of time before someone found out about our 'family time'; I laughed to myself as tears rose in my eyes, but they didn't fall; the never will.

Picture, picture, smile for the picture

Pose with your brother, won't you be a good sister?

Everyone thinks that we're perfect

Please don't let them look through the curtains

D-O-L-L-H-O-U-S-E

I see things that nobody else sees

(D-O-L-L-H-O-U-S-E

I see things that nobody else sees)

Hey girl (hey girl, hey girl, hey girl, hey girl)

Hey girl, open your walls, play with your dolls

We'll be a perfect family

'Like hell, we will,' I thought, the thought bringing a smile to my lips.

Places, places, get in your places

Throw on your dress and put on your doll faces

Everyone thinks that we're perfect

Please don't let them look through the curtains

I sang the last like sarcastically, wanting to be removed from the house as much as any child could.

Picture, picture, smile for the picture

Pose with your brother, won't you be a good sister?

Everyone thinks that we're perfect

Please don't let them look through the curtains

D-O-L-L-H-O-U-S-E

I see things that nobody else sees

(D-O-L-L-H-O-U-S-E

I see things that nobody else sees)

I looked out the window one more time before closing the eyes, letting the song play on loop as I drifted to sleep, my life repeating itself in my dreams.