12 AM.
Fingers sift through a shoebox brimming with pastimes
Brimming with sketches
Brimming with notes
Brimming with the endeavors of adolescence
A photo resurfaces
You leaning your head upon my shoulder
On my thirteenth birthday
My pale complexion complemented your ebony skin

1 AM.
Your irked me in that moment
But presently I would
dispose of my future 
For the simplicity of a past
With you
I know you’d ask
why I’ve confined myself
To such a hyperbolic statement
But I never recognized
The quantities in which
you uplifted me
So I’ll reveal to you
Our shared sentiments

2 AM.
guffawing at the local Kroger
Under a veil of stars
Tossing the soggy school-provided
tater tots
Into each other’s gaping mouths
And catching your
Sideways glances
During health class
Encouraging me during
my first volleyball match
Even though I was
visibly trembling
And bluntly stating I was the
most awkward human being
In the northern hemisphere
Or when I replied by declaring
that you resembled
Turk from Tarzan
I deserved the inevitable
kick in the shin
We’d spend the day engrossed
in a heated
fervor of Literature
cringeworthy bands
And your graceless
Crush on a
30 year old teacher
Despite our differed physiques
and our differed upbringings
My pale complexion still complimented your ebony skin

3 AM.
You won’t admit to the time I found you in the breezeway
With tears trickling into your fists
You wouldn’t speak
So I sank beside you and slung my arm
Around your quivering shoulders
And was silent as society strolled by
“He hit me again.”
Were the only words you had to utter
And I shifted a bit closer

4 AM.
I was too disoriented to shed a tear
When I told you I was
Transferring across town
To a quieter city
Where everyone is constrained
By labels
You observed as I
distanced myself
You irked me in those moments
When you’d ask what I was
Thinking about
But presently i’d forsake
The certainty of the suburbs
To hear it again

5 AM
The last time I saw you
You grimaced at me
With grief
Already searing your eyes
You threw your arms
Around my shoulders
And I weakly returned
The embrace
Then you turned and trudged
To your doorstep
The whitewashed walls
Of your apartment
Complimented your ebony skin

6 AM
I let 4 months slip
Away aimlessly
Before I was told
About the ambulance lights
Flashing on the
Whitewashed walls
I dropped the phone
Let it shatter
As snippets of
Meaningless sound
Traveled to me
“...Really Worried…”
“...Cuts were deep…”
“...Screams were awful…”
I went another 2 months
Without knowing
Whether you were
Alive
Or
Dead.

7 AM
Do you know
That 9 months
Have passed
And I can’t count
A day Where
I haven’t
Thought about you
Do you know
That I spend
Sleepless nights
Reminiscing
On the
Sentiments
We shared
Do you know
That I prefer
Your company
To the company
Of this entire town’s
Taciturn population
Do you know
That I knocked
On your apartment
Door
And was turned
Away with only
Your mother’s
Sympathetic
Grin
And two words
“She’s gone.”