Free Bird

I sit in my room, staring at the painting on the wall. My brother has left. I am alone. The sheets underneath me are cold, despite the fact that they've been in close proximity to my own heat for several hours. The painting on the wall is that of a dove in a steel cage. I lie down and inevitably fall asleep. I dream of a dove, flying high in the sky. Its cage falls to the ground, shattering into pieces as if it were glass. The dove soars higher and higher until it is out of sight. I wake up, and stare longingly through the bars on my window, hoping one day that I too will know what it's like to soar freely.