A Bedroom Missing an 18-Year Old Girl

The bed is still an unmade mess
Mattress topper wrinkled
Pillow leaking out of its case
Topsheets thrown to the side
A still life showing the speed
With which she started her final day.

Leftovers of her life, scattered here
And there, posters and pictures
Of friends huddled, the soccer team together
Her, wearing the uniform she was buried in
A desk hosting scattered college brochures
Hinting at a future that never came.

Her shoes lined up next to her dresser
Old Converses she wore nearly every day
High heels for a wedding, worn only once
Her soccer cleats, among many others
She was buried barefoot. It felt wrong
To keep her toes from the silk in her coffin.

The last time her room was entered
The window was left open.
Maybe that's why the house has been so cold.