yesterday, I watched, as you fell apart
bit by bit,
emotions aching in the scars found on my ankles and your wrists
yesterday, I listened, when she told me that she had her mother's freckles,
and she closed her hand around the phantom grip of someone
who had already left
yesterday, I couldn't breathe, while I lay in bed,
thinking of people who didn't deserve all the hurt that they were feeling
yesterday, I was a useless friend
who couldn't be there
for anyone because I
wasn't strong enough

today, you texted me
saying that you're no longer clean
and I broke inside
because I was so afraid that one day
the hospital halls you walked the other day
would become the halls that I would walk
if you let the pain consume you

I asked you to be strong
I asked you to promise me to never
make my nightmare come true
but you couldn't.