You Used To Get Me Chocolates On Valentines Day

I used to be a little girl
Scared of your footsteps coming home
And hide away in my room avoiding the creaks in the floor that would give away my position
Like the attics in Fortnite
Funny comparison
Our home was a fortress only safe in the night
When I knew you would retreat into hibernation

But on Valentines Day
I would come home  from school to find
Chocolate hearts and a bouquet
Addressed to me and mommy
As we smiled at each other, feeling special
This was before the bruising on my moms thigh was ingrained in my mind
And all I  could think of when I looked at you.

But on Valentines Day
I would wait for you to come home
With chocolates and flowers
And a card with my name on it
Telling me how much you love me
And how you'll never forget this day
I would keep those roses in my room
Until they withered away.
As the garbage truck dumped them in the back
I was comforted by the fact
That there would always be another rose in another year
Even after the flowers stopped coming for mom,
I knew they would come for me, regardless if I wanted them to.

When the next Valentines Day came
And I sat at night
And listened to your footsteps that didn't seem to loud anymore,
Come and go into your room with the door shut firmly behind you
The day was suddenly leftovers from Thanksgiving
Each passing day thereafter growing sicker and sicker.

Maybe I would have kept a rose
Or a card
If I had known the day would come where I would be just like my mother