i had a friend.

she had short black hair and big brown eyes and a million neon color slap-on bracelets.

she had that giddy kind of laugh that could lift me out of the bottomless pit known as my mind. 

she always wore two tight ponytails and acrylic-colored hair clips giving her the appearance of a toddler. 

she had tan skin that would glisten in the sun when she used that peaches and cream scented moisturizer that I gave her for christmas.

she always had a thick sweet scent cause she practically bathed in perfume.

she and i were inseparable kinda like puzzle pieces or lego bricks or even gum on the bottom of a shoe or table. 

she and i would talk until we made each other’s ears bleed ranting about anything on our minds from the coolest tattoos ever to what kept us up at night.

she and i would whisper and giggle during our history class.

she and i used each other as an excuse when our parents asked why our grades were dropping.

she and i practiced gymnastic tricks in the school’s soccer field while laughing our heads off when we would fall down and fail miserably. 

she and i would walk to our homes together because our parents were afraid of anything happening to us in our neighborhood.

she and i saw a police car park across the street from us and officers shouting and officers pointing their guns and officers calling for backup and officer threatening to pull the trigger. 

they saw two little girls crying and two little girls with their hands-up and two little girls shaking uncontrollably and two little girls praying to god that they would be able to see or even get to say goodbye to their friends and family.

one officer pulled the trigger and one little girl was shot dead.

i had a friend.

she had a bullet wound in her chest that tore through her striped tank-top.

she had big brown eyes that were closed shut and filled with tears.

she had short black hair and acrylic colored hair clips and neon bracelets all mixed with a scarlet hue from the splatter of blood.

she had tan skin and big brown eyes and short black hair like the girl the police officers thought she was.