These are the kids you spent nearly every waking moment with for 12 years
These are the kids with whom you drank your first beer.
The ones who lit your first cigarette.
These are the kids that taught you to inhale and exhale, not just the smoke, but life too.
These are the kids that approved your first guy.
These are the kids that stepped up when that guy messed up.
These are the kids that picked you up after heartbreak
These are also the kids that broke your heart.
The ones who can fix anything but not what they've done.
These are the kids that turned into what they always protected you from.
These are the kids that crushed your lungs, making you forget how to inhale and exhale.
These are the kids who's decisions were like a lit cigarette burnt into your skin and the jagged, broken edge of a beer bottle to your head.
These are the kids you have to learn to live every waking moment without.

I woke up once around midnight in a nightmare that took the form of real life
I saw you standing outside, the past reattached to your ripped shorts and tortured expression.
The truth of that past finally passed our hesitant lips
Every betrayal, was like a gust of wind taking us to our knees without a fight
I watched as every friend we ever knew turned their backs and walked away from us
As if walking away from a nameless headstone in a quiet, forgotten graveyard.
I woke up once around midnight in a nightmare that took the form of real life
It changed everyone we knew
And I've been trying to wake up from the nightmare ever since.