I always said next time
Next time she was texted
Next time I would intervene
I thought they'd stop on their own

The girl was my friend, the 'victim'
Had been for a while until,
Until she drifted, until them
I kept a close eye, didn't want to press.

There had to be something
Something I could say, or do.
Next time, next time there was a post
I would screen shot it. Next Time

She had problems at home
A Mom who drank everything
A Dad that yelled all the time
No one to save her

She did stuff when she was alone
In her room, to feel the relief
She thought I couldn't see what they did
But I did, I would say something next time

The day before things changed
They did it in person
They had enough followers
Enough people who said next time

They stopped her in her tracks
She dropped her head bowing to them
Couldn't they see they had won?
That she wasn't fighting

They were kicking someone who was down
They wouldn't stop, the names they called her
One said "B****" The other, "Why don't you go die?"
I wasn't there, but next time I would be

But
There was
No
Next Time

My friend, the 'victim' she's called
Is now six feet under ground
And I did nothing to stop it
Stop the names, the texts, the posts

She suffered because of me
She drowned because of me
She died because of me
Because I said Next Time