By: Ninth grade me

Big?

This room isn't big at all
It's shrinking
And that balloon is at the center of it all

They're green and red and gold
With hints of black and white
Festive, you think
They seem fun

No they're not

They float there,
Seemingly minding their own business
They chat with those who approach them
Then those they talk to disappear
And suddenly the room is smaller

Don't go near them, I tell others
They'll consume you
And pop your balloon
They'll leave your remains behind
And trample them
And laugh

The room contracts
And contracts
And contracts
And contracts

I'm suffocating

The room contracts
And contracts
And contracts
And contracts

They're getting closer

The room contracts
And contracts
And contracts
And contracts

Don't come near me
Don't pop my balloon

It's still contacting
How did it get so small?
I'm suffocating

There's another like me,
One that seems to get smaller
And smaller
And smaller
The more the room shrinks

Can you not here us crying?
Don't pop my balloon

The other is squashed
Between the wall
And the center

Help me, they cry,
Don't pop my balloon
Why can't you leave me alone

The large one grows closer still,
Ignoring the pleas of the smaller

It's trapped

I try to go to it
We need to stick together, I think
I can't be alone in this

The room contracts
And the smaller gives a cry

The sound of a small explosion
Echoes throughout the room
But the sound is muffled
By the one
In the center

Despair washes over me,
And I begin to sink
I'm done for, I think

Another balloon brushes me
Do not give up, they say to me
You're not alone

I begin to float again
It was then I realized that the room
Wasn't contacting at all
The balloon at the center
Was expanding
And consuming
Everything that wasn't the same

It may be the center of this room,
My ally said
But they're not the center of this house