Rapunzel's Tower.  

For my one and only Marly.   

There was a girl with hair as bright as the summer's golden hour gaze eyes just as hazel. There was a girl who lit up as a flower field does. There was a girl who grew up too fast for herself. And, too fast for her heart.

My friends are out. I can hear them playing on the trampoline. I wanna go. I wanna play with them too.

Why bother even trying to ask to play? It's the same answer every time. “No, Marly.  maybe next time. I don't think so, dear.” I peel down my wall collapsing into my knees. I wanna be normal. Mama says there's nothing wrong with being different but I know she hates it. I know I'm the reason Papa left. I'm the reason why none of the men Mama brings in don't stay. There's a new man every other week. I don't quite understand it. Mama says the men she brings in are for my sake. Mama’s happy when a new one comes in. I'm not. Mama pays more attention to the man she brings home than me. Her daughter. 

I'm not worth it. Mama should have never given birth to me. The day I entered the world  was the day I cursed Mama's love and all my friends with me. I know I hurt them day in and day out because it's a day closer to the day we all know is coming.

Mama tries to help me experience life. She's introduced me to boys, beaches, holidays, friends, and family. All of the above except for a mother’s love. I hurt her too much. Mama sees no point loving someone who has a deadline. 

I'm Marly. I was Marly. I was a girl who lived to be seven. And, if you still haven't caught on, I'm dead. I was born with Cardiomyopathy. Cardiomyopathy is a disease in which my heart is weak. It causes my heart to not function right. To elaborate, it causes heart failure. Mama’s young, probably too young to be a mother. I'm older than all my friends, so as I'm five they’re three. My story only just started when I was three. Then, just as it started, four years later it ended. 

 I hear a knock at my window. “Marly?” I know this voice. 

“Emelia?” I say turning to my window. 

“Come on, I saw your mama leave a few minutes ago. Let's play!”

This is Emelia. She's the girl next door. She's not just the girl next door, she's my best friend. She loves me despite the fact that we’re never going to celebrate our coming of age together because I'm never going to come of age. 

“I'm coming!” I say as I run out my front door. 

“Mar! Let's go play on the trampoline,” she says, taking my hand. This isn't abnormal for her and me. We sneak out and play all the time when Mama leaves. It's always been me and her. 

“Mar, Mar, come on the hammock has leaves on it. Let's go!” she says as her smile lights her and all the surrounding up. 

“I'm coming, I'm coming, Eme!” I say grabbing a pile of leaves and throwing them. We play for hours on hours until Eme hears a car coming down the road. 

“That’s your mama's car.”

It's time for me to go home. Emes always had good hearing, It's like her superpower you could say! She can tell what car exactly is entering our neighborhood just by the sound and vibration. She's always looking out for all our friends and I so I don't get caught sneaking out. 

                                                                             ~~~

My mama says Marly and I once found fairies. I don't remember finding fairies. I must have been five. Ma says we had gone to a magic forest and ran ahead on the trail. Leading us to a path full of beautiful “fairies”. I remember some memories of her. She was magical. With all the memories I have, she lit every single one up. I used to sneak her out. We’d play for hours on hours.

 I remember being four and Marly was six. My mom had taken us out to the park. There was some sort of dance going on. We had dressed up as fancy as a four-year-old and a six-year -old could. She was dressed in leopard print while I had gone for the classy Cinderella dress with the shoes and all. Once we had arrived, it was already coming to an end. Did that stop us? No. No it didn't. We linked hands and danced. We danced as there was no tomorrow. We danced and danced and danced and as we did we had drawn more and more attention to ourselves. The music began to start again and we found we weren't the only ones dancing. 

Then she moved. I never saw her again from the day she left. She hadn't even moved far, she had moved to the Bay where the ocean kissed the sand day by day. Then before I knew it I started school. I had begun making new friends, new memories, and forgetting the old ones. I tried time and time again to let her mama allow us to see one another and it never happened. Soon enough I was six. Marly's eighth birthday had just passed and I heard after the fact about it. I was really upset that I had missed that. Furious even. Yet life goes on.

 As for me, my life went on but for my Marly…Some months later, I found myself at Marley's death ceremony. She was gone. My best friend I hadn't seen in years was gone as much as that could hurt a six-year-old. What hurt more was I had to face the fact that her mother didn't care, for her mother was as high as a kite.