when i wa...

when i was fourteen, one night in march, at an arena. my friend and i were equals in the food chain while standing in a room. we knew each other, despite he being nearly a full year older than i was. that previous september, we met the people in that room, and one another, all at the same time. over the years; the paint on the walls slowly peeled away, and the hockey players at the arena aged into higher divisions. later that night people were gathering to leave. the doors needed to be locked, windows closed, lights turned off. a long pause. a light remained, a door unlocked, and the draft from the bathroom knocked paint chips off the walls. a long pause. he went into the bathroom. she had tied her belt from the top of the bathroom stall door frame into a noose. the noose was secured with the brass buckle that came with the belt. my friend and i never really discussed what happened. she disappeared. and several years later we would leave that room behind us. now all that's left behind are miniscule paint chips, burnt lightbulbs, worn hardwood floors and a bent door frame.it's three a.m. i should be sleeping, and this is what surfaces in my mind.