Three moments in time

She sits beneath the tree, fingers gently
strumming a guitar, trying to let her emotions
out from where they're tied up in her heart,
trying to make sense of them
through music. She
plays only for herself, because no one's around to hear, but that's okay.
She doesn't need anybody else.

He slides into an empty seat at
the back of the bus, backpack up next to him,
protecting him from having to see one more person today,
hunched over his phone, looking at
text messages that pull tears up from deep down inside him and
into his eyes, but he's okay.
He doesn't need anybody else.

They run through the forest
purple sneakers pounding out the rhythm of anger,
running away from where they are vulnerable,
to a place where they're all alone.
A place where no one can hurt them, and
no one can comfort them, either, but it's okay.
They don't need anybody else.

But then

A boy walks over to her and
asks if she knows how
to play his favorite song
and she laughs because
it's her own favorite song, too
and she's glad someone is there.

A kid stands by the school bus seat
and smiles gently and
asks to sit with him.
He moves the backpack and lets them in, and they talk,
and as the words pour from his mouth
he's glad someone is there.

A running girl silently slips up next to them,
and the beating of her bare feet matches
up with theirs and even though this girl
could laugh at them, they let her stay because
at the end of the day when they think about it alone in the darkness of their room
they're glad someone is there.