let me tell you a little about Shantel,

she grew up in a broken home, two parents in shambles. her parents had no clue how to raise children, and no matter how many parenting books they read, they were completely blind to their daughter's deterioration.

she grew up with boys touching every place they could reach, she grew up with everyone telling her right was wrong and wrong was right.

I see her now, through a cloud of second hand smoke, her crystal blue eyes permanently glazed over.

I once jokingly asked her if her lungs were like comets now, after all of the cigarettes and blunts she's consumed. she laughed me off, but her smile didn't reach her eyes.

the child within me has convinced myself that since she's smoked so many cigarettes in this life, she's going to be a shooting star in her next life.