Coven of Vexed Hearts

there were four girls
who wore hearts on their arms
each with a different intent;
they wanted to see what they had in common,
and what their symbols meant.

the mousy girl, Penelope
was nothing more than a whisper
"I trace hearts on my arm in pen
and spray them with my mom's perfume
I used to worry no one cared,
I'd sit alone in my own gloom.
The hearts let me remember
I'll always have her
even alone, I can know
someone really loves me.
She's always there."
the breeze trickled through her hair
she brushed her bangs from her quiet face

and Nora outright laughed-
her soul was scarred
just like her arms, permanently marred
disfigured in makeshift hearts
"I've carved and burned hearts in my arm
cause I have none inside.
No one likes me either, girl;
I leave them petrified.
But that's my joy, they hate my art
they've learned to fear these pretty hearts.
I am different.
I wear my wounds like ready weapons
that's the gift, when you inflict them on yourself."
she chuckled, tracing the patterns
and only the sun shining on her face
could show she felt something more-
forlorn, and out of place.

the skeleton with sunken eyes,
who answered to the name of Bailey,
rattled out a breath that sounded like death
"no one will love me unless I'm skinny,
I've still got a ways to go.
I draw hearts at night to remind me in day
I can't eat my sadness away.
Well, I can't eat at all.
My hearts are there to say-
'no one will love you at your weight
no one will love how you look
so… be different.
And most of all, don't eat.'"
she smiled a broken smile
that seemed to take all her energy-
everyone grew quiet
her smile turned to a grimace of brittle teeth.

then they all turned to look at the one girl yet to open her mouth,
Hazel with her clenched hands and unstable feet
seemed to be baring herself against nothing in particular.
Nora gave her a jab,
"I wear a heart
to remind me I'm human.
So I know there's hope
and a reason I live."
she seemed to sing the words as she shut her eyes

"But…" Penelope said
"It's in ink. So doesn't that heart,
the hope,
fade?"

Hazel turned and faced Penelope
with her frozen eyes and fixed stare
"Silly girl,
all things fade."
Penelope flinched, the air grew silent and stale

until Nora cackled in her face
"You're so screwed up!
We all are!
We're the coven
of vexed hearts.
What a treat." she laughed at her speech

Penelope ran a hand through her wind tossed hair,
Bailey tried to smile her half-dead smile
and Hazel sighed
"We're nothing alike,
but somehow we're all the same.
What a shame."

they stayed a while longer,
and when they eventually did part,
they left no evidence of their meeting
except a little residue of inky hearts.
but, it faded soon,
as all things do
and they were only left
with reminders on their arms.