Living In The Shadows

*Some names have been changed to protect the people in this poem*

Living in my nightmare
In a world full of hate
Where we just lay in the dark
For death, we silently wait
We each have a story to tell
Full of anger, tragedy and despair
Living in this f**ed up place
Which treats us so unfair

Brian was my best friend
In some ways he was just like me
Dealing with depression
That no one else could see
His parents treated him like sh!t
He hid his screwed up life well
Everyone thought he was perfect
But he was living through hell
His dad was an alcoholic
And his mum didn't even care
Despite his home life
For me, he was always there
Then he gave up
They found him the next day
He slit his wrists in bed
I watched them carry his body away

Then there’s Katie
Her parents died when she was five
Memories haunt her
Of when they were alive
She has nightmares every night
And cries almost every day
Cuts her fragile wrists
Pretending everything’s okay
Every single night
She wishes upon a star
Prays to god up above
To take her soul somewhere far

Lauren has bulimia
She’s as beautiful as can be
But when she looks in the mirror
A overweight girl is all she sees
She makes herself sick
In desperate hope
That someone might help her
Because she really cant cope
Her parents have high expectations
And she has to live up to this part
As their perfect baby girl
But its tearing her apart

Matt’s dad died last year
A bullet to the chest
He witnessed it all
Saw his dad take his last breath
Now he’s in trouble
Almost every day
Getting into fights at school
And pushing everyone away
He’s lost and confused
And not sure what to do
Angry and messed up
Lost faith in god too

Jamie was raped
Her innocence stolen away
From her own flesh and blood
Her cousin, who came to stay
He held her down
No one heard her tortured screams
She kept trying to wake up
From what seemed like a dream
And now she’s pregnant
She cant handle the stress
She feels ashamed
And really depressed
She hates herself
And what she’s become
All cause of what he did
He had his fun

You wonder now
Why my own story remains untold
Why I haven’t told you
About the horror that my life holds
I wont say a word
About what I live through each day
Cause what good would it do
There’s nothing you can do
Nothing you can say

So ill live my live
With my cursed friends just like me
As we dwell here in the shadows
Desperate to be free
Longing for the sun
To chase our troubles away
To bathe us in light
But here in the shadows we’ll stay