Before February 14th, we thought we had plenty of time

Time for love

Time for life 

Time to change

Time like a bubble

But it was ruptured

St. Valentines Day, February 14th, 2018

5901 Pine Island Rd, Parkland, Florida, United States 

2:19 pm

An Uber the color of milk-filled coffee

A boy not yet a man

Loading his weapon

.223 caliber bullets of fear and grief 

He whispers to a walking student

You’d better get out of here

Things are about to get messy

2:21 pm

Stalking the halls

Halls of knowledge and potential 

Halls that will be forever stained

Shooting, killing, injuring

11 lifeless bodies

13 injuries

Wounds that once healed

Repaired muscle and tissue

Would be an open cut in their hearts 

2:24 pm

Children not yet adults

Huddled in the classrooms

Texting and whispering

There are holes in the wall

They call

They’re shooting in my class

They text

I love you

They send

One opens his door 

Saves seven lives 

Gives his own

2:25 pm

6 lifeless bodies

2 injured

2:27 pm

A boy not yet a man

Walks out

The blood of seventeen on his hands

And he goes to Walmart

The blood of seventeen on his hands

And he gets a drink

The blood of seventeen on his hands

And he is in a booth at McDonald’s

3:40 pm

A boy not yet a man

Arrested

For the lives of seventeen 

Who were children not yet adults

One hour and eighteen minutes

After the first shot

After February 14th, we knew how fast time could stop.