Ode to Art (Continued)

Chapter 6

Soon, your parents start to notice your addiction They try anything to help you: interventions, restrictions, but nothing seems to have effect In the end, they give up on you too. Your all-consuming addiction begins to show on other fronts: the way you look, what you eat, how you perform at school and work Your close friends begin to notice and worry; rumours start to spread. You realise something has changed when your friends start avoiding you but you don't care. At least it is still there You become isolated and alone; the counsellor tries to talk to you about your addiction but you ignore them, focusing on it. They don't understand. No one understands. Only it understands you. It has been there with you since the beginning And even when you feel like you want to, you still can't get rid of it. It's like a long-lost friend, even if others don't see it that way. It's a friend who doesn't judge you, who doesn't ask you to do or don't do something, it just... is there telling you stories to hold on to And you grab onto those stories with both hands; clinging to it as if it could save you from the inevitable. Whatever the inevitable may be. You keep those stories in your heart. You let them destroy you, heal you, you let them take you away. ~a poem by Amira Diable (Teevan) & Jasmine (Amira is a student of House Slytherin) (Jasmine is a student of House Ravenclaw)