FSE

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I'm not the guy you come to for advice

Unless it's on what not to do. Besides

You shouldn't take just anyone's advice.

You don't mind if I ramble on a bit?

Save you the grief of making small talk, yeah?

Besides, there isn't much to see out here:

Just tumbleweeds, tarantulas, and ghosts.

You're worried, yeah? I guess you've seen some shit.

I know the place you've been too goddamn well,

I've seen the kinda shit you must have seen.

I don't know, I don't want to know, the damn

Specifics, but you look like you've seen shit.

But now you're out. Your boy'll be ok.

I'll drop you at the hospital, alright,

Before I drag this thing to the garage?

I won't promise, I guess, that everything

Is gonna be alright. This kinda shit,

It stays with you. It hurts you. But it hurts

A little less after the years go by.

The old wounds stay, but they don't bleed no more:

Becoming old wounds is what new wounds do.

I guess I'll say it'll be more allright

Than it is right now, yeah?

I saw that look.

You think that I don't get it. But I do.

I read you well enough to figure out

The look that you were wearing when they shut

Ambulance doors and carried him away.

You... worry on him, yeah? Let's call it that,

If you don't want to call it more than that

To some strange tow truck driver. Fair enough.

You worry what if he doesn't survive?

You worry if he does, what permanent

Impairment will his life be from now on?

You worry cause you know the kinda shit

You saw, and probably he saw some too?

And so you worry, how long will it take,

How many days, weeks, months, or maybe years

Before the pain gets big enough that it

Outweighs the love? When will he come around,

Agree with that cruel voice somewhere in there

That says that all of this was all your fault?

Ok, I guess I hit a nerve. I won't

Apologize for that. I've known a thing

Or two about the way love falls apart.

So I know what I'm talking about here

When I tell you it's probably not too late

To fix it.

Wait, what does 'straightsplaining' mean?

Is that some... zoomer word? Or is this one

Of all those stupid english idioms

I never learned?

Oh man. You thought I'm straight.

I gotta tell you, kid, that one's a first.

I used to have a couple friends, I guess,

Who'd never let me live that down. But no,

I do know what I'm talking about here.

Not everybody does, you know. Love is

Like ghosts. Not many people really seen

A ghost, but everybody tells a tale

As if they have. You get what I mean, yeah?

Well I've seen both. I watched the one destroy

The other, leaving nothing but a ghost.

This is the part where the advice you get

Is on what not to do. Don't let it go.

Don't hope that everything can just go back

To how it was before the trauma hit.

Don't run in circles. Don't pretend that it

Gets better on its own, because it won't.

Don't think you can protect him from the things

You both already went through, and pretend

There's nothing there to talk about. To talk

About whatever happened back there is

The only way you're gonna set before

You ossify apart. Then it's too late.

You might think talking's gonna hurt. You're right.

It won't make hours in hospital fly by.

But if there's anything that hurts as much

As knowing that the last time that you heard

The words "I love you" were the final time

You ever would, I don't know what it is.

Protect him from that, yeah? It's not too late

For him, and not for you.

When people leave

The stuff they know they need to say unsaid,

It drags you down, coyote, till you drown

In it, like anchors on your wrist. The dead

Are dead. As dead as that damn town.

You made it out alive. Means you can still

Be happy. And I truly hope you will.

Welp, here's the hospital. Best get inside.

Don't worry they won't let you see him, here,

They ain't no homophobes. And hey, if you

Need tips on like a not-too-cheap motel,

Or anything like that, around the town?

You got my number. When your boy gets well

I'll have your car fixed up.

See you around!