What’s behind it? That’s no everyday smirk. Then again, he’s no everyday boy. Only he truly knows the meaning behind it. Only he truly knows the hardships and struggles he’s encountered. Only he truly knows.

A young boy with dark, tousled curls and matching dark skin, flawless as an angel. Smoldering brown eyes, the only similarity he shares with his novel family. That taunting smirk is a dam. It plays there on rough, split lips that were victim to so many years in the relentless, African sun. The dam has one purpose. Yet disguised so cleverly as a mischievous grin. A dam completely content holding back anything and all he bothers to keep. Keep tucked away.

His smirk veils years of struggles. Countless struggles that were considered everyday life. This boy has survived on nothing. Granules of sand added grit to every meal and any water was always unpleasantly warm. Pestering heat constantly pouring down in inescapable rays boiling everything in sight. Never giving up. He continued running like a train with only a few pounds of coal, leaving miles of track behind him, puffing on. He never gave up.

He holds it with him. Filed away as memories not so precious. Forever held on to as experiences that teach him to appreciate everything. That smirk knows.