the children with the red balloons

hooray!
hooray!
the parade is today!
~
walking into the crowd,
with such joy and astound
you jump up and down
 then lost in the crowd,
~
you push your way through to an opened area.
standing there,
your awkward body, holding nothing but a red balloon.
~
waiting for the adrenaline to rush through your veins,
you look left and right,
but no excitement,
 but no parade.
~
confused and alone,
separated by the crowds,
you search for a familiar face,
a familiar sound.
~
long and lengthy,
you trudge up the street,
 closer to the other children holding red balloons.
~
you stand next to,
one,
two,
three,
ten other kids,
waving their pudgy arms left to right,
hollering their squeaky little voices,
for all to hear,
creating a huge roar in your ear.
~
finally in all silence,
you hear the faint sounds of the jolly hoorays,
coming from the parade.
~
as you slowly stare with astonishment,
you see all kinds of freakish things.
~
small people,
tall people,
fat and skinny,
all walking in unison.
~
laughing and smiling,
 you holler with such delight,
turning to laugh with the rest. 
  then noticing the children,
 yelling and crying.
~
not sure what was happening,
you get pushed into the mush of red.
~
suddenly you feel faint,
crashing down,
you fumble onto the black pavement.
~
the last glimpse of the world,
were confettis' falling from the sky,
like small snowflakes,
floating down to dance on your tongue.
~
waking to the sounds of torture and screams,
you jump.
scared out of your wits.
you look around,
all your eyes could adjust to was the color red.
~
suddenly a hand touches your wrist,
you turn to see a little boy.
holding a red balloon.
grabbing his hand,
he leads you to the back of the wagon
traveling so slow,
going over many bump,
bumps that made the children shriek
 causing their balloons to escape from their grasps.
~
confused you look,
noticing that it was late,
noticing the color red filling the sky,
realizing the red balloons you'd seen all the children holding,
were there and everywhere.
~
the wagon finally stopped,
a man,
with bushy brows,
and Satan red eyes,
forces everyone to load off the rigid wagon.
~
next thing you knew,
you were thrown in a cage,
alone,
utterly alone,
except that red balloon.
by your side.
~
looking for any others,
you then see that little boy who had held your hand threw all the chaos,
 being thrown into a pit.
~
your heart begins to pound like a hammer against a nail.
unsure of what that horrid man was going to do,
you try to crawl as far as the cage would allow,
 then,
all that is heard is the screams of the boy,
followed by the haunting sound of a gun shot,
just one,
until all noise itself stops,
and all you saw that foggy night was the..
red balloon,
from the parade.
floating up to the sky,
to the clouds,
with the rest of the red balloons.
~