Long Way Down

by Jason Reynolds

I know you’re young, gotta get it out, but just remember, when you’re walking in the nighttime, make sure the nighttime ain’t walking into you.

People always love people more when they’re dead.

How do you tell water ain’t nothing funny about drowning?

AND YOU KNOW it’s weird to know a person you don’t know and at the same time not know a person you know, you know?

IS IT POSSIBLE for a hug to peel back skin of time, the toughened and raw bits, the irritated and irritating dry spots, the parts that bleed?

MY STOMACH was aching, the quaking world in the bottom of it, and it wasn’t long before I could feel myself splitting apart.