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Aug 2017 · 145
brother
MJ Aug 2017
You always told me not to call you 'Christopher'
"I mean it," you'd say.
"Don't call me."
And I would laugh because I was almost four years old and you and me and our brother were the closest that siblings could get.
A lot of things happened back then that I cannot recall.
But I do recall the bruises.
I recall the screams and the sound of the blood making pools on the floor for a trophy to the woman who won the match.
I remember the bad times more than the good times.
More than the times you would sit with me and brother at the basement window to stare at the stars and listen to his sappy poems.
More than the times we would kick the ball back and forth on the cold, concrete floor of our basement.
More than the times I would climb in your bed and make you sit up with me because I could no longer sleep at night.

A year later we lost our brother.
We watched his feet dangle just inches above the floor,
pondering how in the world he got up there...
And why wasn't he moving?
It's surprising how surprised we are by death.
It's as if 'death' was only a myth, agape in the shadows
hiding on the brink of the forest's edge
Lingering there and waiting for its chance to pounce...
And when it did,
When death decided to leap from it's metaphorical hiding place
We watched.
We wept.
We withered.

After losing him, you took his place as 'the sappy poem writer'
We remembered him by sitting up in the darkest of nights and watching the stars.
And one day, as we pointed out the stories in the sky
You began to recite this poem:

"Have you ever seen a star so bright,
The guide of men, so wise,
To die and lose it's brightened heart,
Before your very eyes."

Back then, I couldn't tell you what I wish I could tell you now.

From day one, all we did was fight.
Now all I do is fight back my tears.
I wanted to do everything you did,
Because I wanted to be just like you.
Now I sit here wondering what to do,
Because there's no one to replace you.
I never did tell you all the things I felt,
Like how much I really did love you.
I wish we could go back and start over again.
I don't want to be alone.
I need my brother.
I need my best friend.
It's sad that you left without saying goodbye.
But just remember, we all love you.
You did so much for me,
as I didn't do much for you.
I hope you will forgive me,
For all the things I didn't do.
You were my brother.
My best friend.
I will always love you.
No matter how many days its been,
since your life came to an end.

I remember the bad times more than the good times.
But the good times aren't just remembered.
They are cherished.
RIP Christopher- Oct.31,1995-August 22, 2017
Aug 2017 · 162
Sonnet 130.1
MJ Aug 2017
Your smile is a burden I choose not to deny.
Your eyes are lifeless and unclean.
I will not wipe away the tears when you cry,
for you cry when yourself, you have seen.
Your voice is but a whisper, crisp as the wind.
Your mind has gone astray too many times.
I have seen more beauty in a deer, when skinned.
I have heard more soothing sound in broken chimes.
You **** sunshine's extravagant rays.
You shatter the half-empty glass.
My days with you turn dim and gray.
Our time does slowly pass.
But, I've loved you more than you can comprehend.
My life is despair, and you are godsend.
Aug 2017 · 310
Dear Dad
MJ Aug 2017
There are so many things I want to tell you, but never will.
So many things that I can't even mask with another puff of smoke or a pill.
Believe me, these are not things you want to hear, like, "I love you," or "I had a great day at school today," or even, "Guess what? I made a 26 on the ACT on my first try."
Although the latter is true, I no longer wish to tell you these things anymore because this is my reality:
I resent you.
Yes, resent.
Resent.
Verb.
To feel bitterness at a circumstance or person.
I resent you for putting so much pressure on my ACT score and then when I finally tell you what I made you say, "Oh, okay."
As if all the work I put into school meant nothing to you in that moment even though all of my hard work, I do to please you.
I resent you for taking away the one person in my life that made me truly happy.
He was my light; my salvation.
Because you disapproved, whether it was of him or the effort I put into him, you took him from me.
You broke me.
Because of your version of 'protection' I did not feel the need to sleep anymore.
My pupils drowned in tears and my hands trembling from sweeping up the broken pieces of my heart all by myself.
I resent you for not taking me seriously when I told you I wanted to **** myself.
I resent you for telling me that my depression. the way I feel behind the mask of me that you created, was just a phase.
That I would get over it.
I resent you for not talking to me, just to see how I'm doing.
I would sit in my bedroom for hours marveling over self made cuts that burned under the holy water that was my tears.
I resent you for not wanting me.
You can tell me whatever you want, but I spent the first 12 years of my life making up stories about you and my mother because I couldn't remember who you were.
Where were you?
I resent you for not getting to know me, and assuming that because I am your daughter you know everything about me.
I resent you for trying to fix me and then claiming to read me like a book only to go and sit me on a shelf.
I resent you.
When I ran away, I expected you to take it as a sign.
It was a suicide attempt that you brushed off your shoulders because you refused to believe that I am troubled.
I resent you.
I resent you for accepting my fake smiles and posed happiness as the real deal when inside I am screaming into the void for you to realize that I am troubled.
That despite my best efforts, I am real.
I resent you.
Maybe we get along sometimes but that is my façade.
My way of mirroring acceptance regardless of its legitness.
My weakness is my ability to notice what you cannot comprehend.
I wake up every morning blasting death grips in my head phones, pondering the fixation of a life's worth of unsolved problems.
I've told you a thousand times of my achievements and of my feelings and those three dreadful words, "I love you."
I promise that somewhere deep inside my resent turns to love, but it is dangerous for someone like me to truly love.
And I promise that I am trying to get my tongue to forget how that tastes.
Because every time I say, "I love you,"
I resent you.
I hate to admit it, but I have never been as truthful as I am being in this very moment.

— The End —