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# System prepended metadata

title: Secrets

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# Secrets

**by Elizabeth Marrero**

The sensation of my step father’s 

tongue

in my mouth is unnerving

He is testing me 

to see if I can keep secrets

We already have a pact 
unspoken

against my mother

It started with allowing me to

eat more ice cream
stay up later
smoke cigarettes

Sneaking these things
behind my mother’s back

making it a game

so when the tongue comes
it is just another secret

in a line of 
more to come
