She said she felt pain,
she said her soul hurt,
she said her skin pressed too tightly to her bones.
He said he felt pain,
he said his body ached,
he said his blood carried tainted oxygen to his mind.
They felt no pain: they felt no real pain.
At seventeen they had drank more than there parents ever did. At nineteen they had been high more times than they had kissed. They saw what they thought was pain and hugged it close. The steep crest gave way to their tumbles, but they had looked upon the bottoms sharp spikes. They had been warned.
Instead of walking a tightrope or going off to fight for a cause, they decided to get their thrills from the bottle and the joint, the smoke and the line. Every night they lost their minds to the infinite, every night was a symptom of the first. That first night where they chose to walk to the edge, that first night where they chose the fate that damned them.
They spoke of rebellion and pressure, but if they would have had the strength to tear themselves away, seek thrills in the real world and seen the sunrise with their own eyes, maybe they would still be here, maybe they would embrace their mothers and fathers and wipe the tears from their eyes. They were too weak, in too deep, with no line to pull themselves out, so they kept drinking, kept smoking, kept injecting. Their mothers and their fathers’ tears will not be wiped, a hand six feet under cannot comfort a crying parent.
Explanation: I can’t exactly remember when it was that I was inspired to write this, but there was some story in the news about drug overdoses in teens. I was appalled at the idea of anyone but their close families feeling anything close to sympathy for them. From the day I was old enough to think about, or know about drugs I had been taught to stay far far away. I can’t see any mother or father not telling their sons or daughters the same. I had heard all about the consequences of drug use and abuse before I even knew why anyone would take drugs. I guess the purpose of this piece is to explore my idea that if you know the risks of something and you still go ahead with said thing, you deserve the consequences that go along with your actions.