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281
The silence drugs leave behind
<p>He didn’t look like a headline.</p><p>Didn’t look like a statistic.</p><p>He looked like a boy who laughed too loud,</p><p>who swore he had it under control.</p><p><br/></p><p>It started small.</p><p>It always starts small.</p><p>A pill passed across a table like it was nothing.</p><p>A line drawn thin as a lie.</p><p>A needle he said he’d only use once.</p><p><br/></p><p>He said, I’m fine.</p><p>He said, It’s just to take the edge off.</p><p>He said, You worry too much.</p><p><br/></p><p>Drugs don’t kick down your door.</p><p>They sit beside you.</p><p>They whisper.</p><p>They tell you you’re tired.</p><p>They tell you you’re broken.</p><p>They tell you they can fix it.</p><p><br/></p><p>And for a minute—</p><p>they do.</p><p><br/></p><p>Then they take your sleep.</p><p>Your money.</p><p>Your teeth.</p><p>Your weight.</p><p>Your mother’s trust.</p><p>Your little sister’s hero.</p><p><br/></p><p>They hollow you out slow,</p><p>like termites in the bones.</p><p><br/></p><p>The night he died wasn’t dramatic.</p><p>No thunder.</p><p>No warning.</p><p>Just a bedroom light still on</p><p>and a phone full of missed calls.</p><p><br/></p><p>His heart didn’t explode.</p><p>It simply forgot how to beat.</p><p><br/></p><p>Drugs don’t always kill you screaming.</p><p>Sometimes they kill you quietly—</p><p>face down, alone,</p><p>while the world keeps spinning like you never mattered.</p><p><br/></p><p>At the funeral, his mother held a box</p><p>too small</p><p>for all the years she thought she’d get.</p><p><br/></p><p>His father didn’t cry.</p><p>He just stared at the floor</p><p>like he was looking for the moment</p><p>he could have stopped it.</p><p><br/></p><p>His friends said,</p><p>“I didn’t think it was that bad.”</p><p>That’s the thing.</p><p><br/></p><p>It’s always that bad.</p><p><br/></p><p>Drugs don’t love you.</p><p>They don’t care how young you are.</p><p>They don’t care about your talent,</p><p>your plans,</p><p>your promises.</p><p><br/></p><p>They will take you apart piece by piece</p><p>and leave the people who loved you</p><p>to bury what’s left.</p><p><br/></p><p>Stay away.</p><p><br/></p><p>Not because you’re weak.</p><p>But because you’re worth more</p><p>than a powder that pretends to save you</p><p>while it digs your grave.</p><p><br/></p><p>He thought he could handle it.</p><p>He thought he was different.</p><p><br/></p><p>Now he is a photograph on a wall</p><p>and a silence at the dinner table</p><p>that never goes away.</p>
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David Lilly-West
Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Referral Earning
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