So without further ado, How to Save a Life
Step one you say we need to talk
He walks
You say sit down it's just a talk
He smiles politely back at you
You stare politely right on through
"Stop it!" she screamed. "Please just stop it!" He turned back to look at her and the wind rippled softly through his hair. This wasn't the boy she knew, the man she knew. Tears stained his cheeks and she knew they stained hers as well.
Some sort of window to your right
As he goes left and you stay right
"Please," she begged, sobbed, pleaded. He stepped down and hugged her close to him. She clawed at the back of his shirt for a firmer grip and clung to him as tightly as she could. She wasn't going to let him leave her arms.
"You were always the one who understood me," he whispered. "You were always my friend."
"I still am," she choked out.
"No, because you don't understand now."
"Make me understand!"
Between the lines, of fear and blame
You begin to wonder why you came
"You're a coward if you do this."
"You don't understand," he told her again. He was crying but she wasn't sure he was aware of it. "This will make it all go away, this will make it alright again."
"You're leaving us behind, you're leaving me."
Where did I go wrong
I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
"You will understand someday," he promised her. "It's just time. Everyone has decisions to make, crossroads where a path must be chosen. This is my path."
"This isn't a path!" she screamed. "You don't have to do this!"
And I would have stayed up with you all night
His eyes fixed on the ground for a second and he swallowed the large lump forming in his throat. Without another word of arguement he gave her a chaste kiss on the lips and turned back. Her sobs were carried away in the wind, and with only a moment of hesitation and an apologetic look back at her, he stepped off the ledge.
Had I known how to save a life
She lunged after him, grabbed at the spot where he had been only a moment earlier but grasped nothing but air. She screamed "NO!" at the top of her lungs but doubted anyone heard her, and if they did she doubted anyone cared. She fell back on the roof with a resounding thud and heard someone calling her name...
She woke up in a cold sweat, gasping for air, her fingers pressed to her lips as if she could still feel that last parting kiss. She looked to her right and saw who was calling her name. With a small sob she threw herself against his chest and he closed his arms around her, like he did every time she dreamt of that day. The nightmares wouldn't stop, the memories plagued her, the sight of him falling to his death was etched into her memory and it wasn't going to leave. She felt the warm arms of her lover cradling her as she cried, and she couldn't help wondering if life would ever be normal again.
How to save a life