Whistle

She is seventeen. She has just moved into her first very own apartment.
She feels such freedom.
She is alone, on her own in the world.
On a warm summer night, she steps outside for a cigarette. The air smells of rain. The city is quiet. She hears someone whistling somewhere, not far away.

She quits school.
Her friends move out of town, onto bigger and better things.
She finds new friends. She gets by.
She quits her job. She finds a boyfriend. He's not all that she hoped for. He is broken on the inside. She starts to feel broken too.
She leaves him and finds a new boyfriend.  She leaves him too and finds another one. Nothing seems to help, she feels more and more broken.
She starts to poison herself, slowly. She loses even more friends. She takes more poison.
She starts a new job. And there, she meets Him. He's all she's ever wanted, more than she ever knew she wanted.
She tells Him she loves Him. He doesn't respond.
She feels broken. She knows He is broken too. She knows they can feel whole together.
He doesn't respond.
She poisons herself more and more as she loves Him more and more.
He still doesn't say He loves her. She knows He does.
She's broken and she's poisoned, but she gets by.

On a warm summer night, she steps out to the balcony of her small downtown apartment, not that far from her very first one.
She lights a cigarette and enjoys the smell of summer rain. She starts to whistle.
She'll get by.