Member-only story
A Teenager’s Dying Thoughts
An American School Shooting Poem
Went to school today and never made it home
Got shot up in the bathroom after he heard the ringing of my phone
I gasped my last breath in the stall all alone
Bleeding out through the hem of the pants my mom just sewed
My dog waited by the door, my parents waited on the phone, my acceptance later waited in the mailbox, and I waited to be identified
Echoed through the halls was my boyfriend’s cries
For what purpose did I die?
I guess I should have been in a bulletproof vest and prepared for war under my “student disguise”
The shooter’s face lit up Facebook, Twitter, and the nightly news
Mine laid face down stored away in a basement like an old pair of shoes
“It was bullies!” They all accused
Forgetting that the man pulling the trigger made a choice only God should choose
My life is over just as it was beginning
And because a counselor didn’t get to him soon enough, people are asked to be forgiving
So now I leave the land of the living
Knowing that I’ll be joined by more tomorrow after the next mass killing
