boy 1 leans on me

we speak comfortably

quiet words swirling

into fresh thoughts and questions

of the universe

he is raw

I see his virgin heart

not yet shaped by romance

unsure of how to

articulate

even a simple sentence

to the girl he

steals glances at

when he thinks no one is watching

he sits next to me

shadowed in the

AM moonlight

and says

look at the stars

his head finds

a nook in my shoulder

heavy with insecurities

the trials of adolescence

weigh on both of us

but he will be okay

with my voice in his ear

guiding him through

the complexities of the female heart

he announces his presence with a guffaw

that leaves a sour taste in my mouth

words spill from his mouth

drenched in immaturity

and too loud opinions

his footsteps thud

the loudest in the room

making all painfully aware of him

but only when you listen closely

can you hear the hollowness

he

is boy 2

I miss boy 1

so I call to him

come out

come out my friend

but he shakes his head

refusing to appear

except under the mask of darkness

or behind the shield of a screen

I see them in my minds eye

two people

two souls

two minds

until they turn

and face me

as one

i am jolted to reality

and faced with a contradiction

two entities

merged into a whole being

they flicker

boy 1 flashes panic

across his features

as boy 2 smothers

the stars in his eyes

the galaxy of him

threatens to collapse

or explode

but which one

I cannot tell

my eyes search his

and they are full of things I do not know

but that someday

maybe I will

boy 1 latches on to me

and I refuse to let go

but I can only

stop him from drowning

in the murky water of his mind

the only one that can pull him to safety

is boy 3