How It Begins

I know why the child cries over his homework,
why teenagers these days take comfort in drugs.
The child is beginning the long process of growing up,
the drugs save them from cracking under the pressure
of being perfect and getting good grades and trying to maintain a job as well as a healthy social life.
The drugs are their only escape.

The child will far too soon become those teenagers.
The weed allows him to breathe for the first time
since middle school,
but by the end of freshman year
it is no longer strong enough to overpower the anxiety.
Through the haze he faintly recalls screaming parents,
lacking comprehension of why their perfect child's grades are rapidly falling.

As sophomore years wraps up
the LSD is the only thing keeping him going.
He's constantly struggling to go stead fast at the same pace with a growing work load,
hanging on by the worn out threads
of people who used to care about him.
Just trying the breathe under water.

Half way through junior year
he discovers candy is not for him,
ditching the cocaine he moves on to a new adventure.

Chasing the Dragon becomes his favorite past time,
like little boy playing with a brand new toy.
By the beginning of senior year he's doing it on a daily basis.

Those friends that tried to keep his head above the Black Sea,
no longer speak to him.
They bask in their golden light with the rest of the living.

The spiraling has almost come to an end.
He's too far gone,
or at least that's what he thinks.

Graduation night approaches.
His anxiety sky rockets.
Blacken veins don't look good in graduation gowns.

One drug,
Two drug,
Three drug,
Four drugs past counting.

An overdose dampers the night his life was supposed to begin.
Instead, it ends.

- mental and emotional health is just as important as physical health