Seconds
Seventeen seconds until the curtain's call
Seventeen seconds left to look at you
Seventeen seconds to breathe
Seventeen buttons down the back of that dress
Sixteen years lived before sent to die
Fifteen steps down our hallway
Fourteen letters hidden in my room
Thirteen years before you woke me up
Twelve reasons I tried to hate you
Eleven classes we had together
Ten screams that broke my heart
Nine that I actually heard
Eight months lived in doubt
Seven times I asked you to dance
Six times you agreed
Five different times you thought I would run
Four little children flung into this battle
Three tiny words we would literally die to speak
Two worlds brutally colliding
One
One night to end it