The Ice Storm

Poems Under the Stars

Everything is still moving in slow motion. It's just too much to process. 

I hear my friends yell simultaneously, "No!" 

But I hardly hear them. All I hear is my own scream as the building - and one of my best friends - went up in flames. The loud echo across the land as a hundred grenades blew up from the one that he was holding. 

Why, Jake? Why? That was so.......stupid. 

Tears fill my eyes as I watch the entire armory crumble to pieces. Dark, black smoke billows into the air, and fires leap up all around. All I can think about is that Jake's still under there. 

I scramble to my feet and shakily run over to the pile of rubble as fast as I can go. He had used some sort of hidden power to throw me out of the way so I was safe as he blew himself up. Why me? I actually might've preferred to die with him. 

This is too much to bear. 

"Jake!" I scream, my voice sounding very far away and echoing. I look around, frantically searching for a sign of him, any sign of him. 

But there's nothing. 

I collapse onto the ash and sob. 

He's gone. 

I read a verse in the Bible once that really seemed, truthfully, a bit dramatic at the time. But now I really understand how the Psalmist feels. It went something like: 

God, save me. The water has risen to my neck. 

I'm sinking down into the the mud. There is nothing to stand on. I am in deep water. The flood covers me. 

I am tired from calling for help.  

I don't know why those verses have stuck with me over the years, but today, they've come back into my mind. This is exactly how I'm feeling right now. 

He's gone. 

And as I stand outside back at Shadow's hq, I stand on the porch and look up at the stars. The splash of lights painted against the sky. There's so many of them. So many shining bright. 

I hope Jake's joined them now. He's right where he belongs.