I knew Lucy since she was yay little
A demon in human form she’d always been
With her crafty smiles and
her thoughts frothing with trickery

Our family never took much heed of Lucy’s many mischiefs
Caught up in their own business, they let her be
She repressed her subconscious need for attention
By making strange friends
Goths and misfits, hanging out in shady, underground clubs
Listening to their dark music, sung in guttural undertones
Her outlook pessimistic, her lifestyle stank of nihilism

Our folks took notice when Lucy’s grades started falling
(Of course I could plainly see her downward spiral
But nobody paid any attention to my snide remarks)
The cut her allowance, her car privileges were withdrawn
Lucy rebelled by turning to chemicals
Her friends too were on the same path
to the mire of apathy and self-destruction
So no help there

Last week they found Lucy
Lying in the canal behind the factories
The neighbors and the police swarmed into our house
When tragedy strikes, people are drawn to the carnage
Like carrion flies to a corpse
Apparently, Lucy had overdosed
Her ‘friends’ had dumped her body
in the chemical-infested puddles behind the factory
To confuse the cops
She was 15

I miss her terribly
I knew her since she was a kid
She was family
But, being a cat
There’s only so much I could do