“Why are you leaving?” you asked.
I forced myself to keep quiet as I walked away.
Because I'd seen this so many times before,
and I'd gotten sick of you;
because for once I didn't care if you cried,
or if you went and whispered about me into someone else's ear;
because there had never been a time when I wasn't your safety net,
so you kept me around in case someone hurt you
by not following your secret script to life;
because that one day when I was sobbing in the bathroom,
you told me to, "get over it," as if I could do that;
Because I remember the first time I went to your house
You made sure to show me all of your awards
Waiting expectantly for my fabricated admiration;
because you punished me if I got something
you wanted, or had any accomplishments of my own;
because you thought you were the best at everything,
and cried when you lost;
because of how you would sing loudly in the halls,
pretending that you weren't fishing for compliments;
because the only reason I still hung around was that
you told me everything, and you made me feel special
when I was the first one you called for advice
or when we would sit together and the teacher would tell us to
"take a water break" to control our laughter;
Because I knew that the guilt that I felt right then
would always draw me back,
like a fish on a line to you;
because other times you took advantage of my sympathy,
of my always wanting to please you;
because when you were sitting in the corner of the art gallery,
your eyes bloodshot and hard, I was sitting next to you,
rubbing your back with one hand;
because of how you were spewing out the words
like they were red hots burning the inside of your mouth ;
Because of how you had victimized a few,
adding them to your long list of people never to be accepted,
expecting me to follow along like a servant in your footsteps;
because you made me scared right then,
effortlessly turning on friends that had no bad intentions;
because then I realized that I was dangled over a cliff,
and you were ready to drop me at any slight mistake;
because I didn’t deserve this and I didn’t need you.
“Why are you leaving?” you asked
and you looked at me, waves crashing inside of you,
as the tears continue to fall down your cheeks.
I was silent
because right then,
all I cared about was getting to shore before the storm began.