Memories

A picture stands against the wall.

Two women,

standing in the cold.

One grinning,

the other smirking.

Arms wrapped around each other,

knowing that they will never let go.

I smile sadly,

placing a picture of two intertwined roses before it.

My sister,

her lover,

both my friends.

Dead now,

due to the stupidity of one boy.

One boy,

who took his gun and shot them,

and then himself,

all because he couldn't stand to die alone.

He took others with him,

nearly the whole school.

My friends,

shoving me under the table so that I wasn't hit by the flying bullets,

tried to stop him.

I will never forget them,

as I tell the story to my baby.

Who asked me,

why was I always sad today?

She smiles,

placing little fingers on the glass.

Than you,

she says to the aunts she will never know,

for protecting mommy.

I smile,

the poem they wrote together going through my head:

There was magic brewing that night,

something different in the air.

I saw you shivering there,

waiting to die.

You glared at me,

when I offered my hand.

You told me to leave you there,

that I had better things to do,

then to help you.

I shook my head,

not wanting you to die.

You glared again,

angry at me for being stubborn.

You stood,

yelling at me to go,

to leave you there to die.

I remember slapping you then,

telling you not to be stupid.

How could I leave someone to die like that?

You stared at me in shock,

wondering why some stranger cared enough,

not to let you die.

I asked why.

You said no one cares.

I offered my hand,

saying I do.

The night we first met,

you almost didn't take that hand.

Yet you did in the end.

I am glad that you did,

I don't know what I would do without you,

my friend, my love.

When we first met,

I was going to kill myself.

I had everything ready,

then you arrived.

You offered me something no one before had.

Your friendship, your love,

everything you had,

all for a messed up stranger.

You saved me from myself,

from everything that went bump in the night.

You're right,

I almost didn't take your hand.

Yet something,

maybe the magic you say happened,

told me to trust you.

You didn't leave me,

like every one else had.

Like anyone else would have.

Instead,

you brought me home,

gave me something to live for.

Your friendship, your love,

things I never thought I would ever be worthy of from anyone.

From above,

two women watch the younger woman and her daughter.

They had never let the other go,

watching over their loved ones that they died to keep safe.

Life is never fair,

but death doesn't signal the end of love.

This is in memory of all those who have ever died to save someone else, helped someone they may never see again, helped a complete stranger, or did something that everyone but those closets to them have forgotten. This is in memory of all those who will do anything for someone they care about, in life, death, and eternity. This is for all the people who have lost and gained something in the direst of moments.

-Mage