Memories

I guess I never thought
The world would collapse while
The moon looked on and laughed.

Memories wash back to me
Like shells reappearing on the sand -
Walking to classes with frenemies like me,
Running around screaming like maniacs 
And kicking slush at each other
While the French teacher utterly ignored us
And told us to feel how beautiful the sun was,
Shared earbuds and
Accompanying one of you to the school store to buy
A Pop-Tart,
Advisory lunches every Friday
And getting 100s in math,
Secret memories stashed away in a box,
For when someone asks me about what it was like
Then.
I'll tell them it creeped up on us
Like a rainstorm that unexpectedly hails,
Then shut the box away
Because I don't want to think about
The masks that smothered our lives.

The moon laughs as we struggle and slip under the tidal waves of
Torrential fear
But the stars blink in a comforting way at night,
Telling me to remember.