The Time When I Went Crazy

It all started when I entered high school

So much homework

So much stress

So much pressure

Pressure from myself

Pressure from my peers

Pressure from my parents

Pressure from my teachers

Pressure about grades

Pressure about my future

Pressure about friends

Pressure about college

Pressure about everything

That’s when it started

That’s when I changed

Then something huge happened

Something I had never experienced before

Suicide.

It was someone I had only spoke to once or twice

Someone I passed in the hall everyday

Someone I had never given much thought

But now they were gone

Just this thought was hard for me to comprehend

A human life

Someone so young

Was gone forever

And that wasn’t even the hardest part

There was the tears and sorrow

Some on the faces of those I knew

Some on the faces of those I didn’t

I remember walking down the hall

Seeing everyone so broken down, crying

Then after the initial shock had worn off

There was the silence

I never really understood the term ‘deafening silence’

Until I heard this

In classrooms

In the hall

In the cafeteria

On the bus

No one said a word

No one knew what to say

After a week or so

People began to speak again

Everything seemed back to normal

But then it happened again.

And again.

And again.

That’s how it all started

That’s how I went crazy