"You're like an open book!" she told me, "only with most of the pages torn out". As the sounds from the vehicles outside plaster my thoughts with smoke and grease, all I could muster out of my core was a broken smile and an unnoticeable nod. Aslaysha could always read people better than they would ever bother to understand themselves. Back then, I was one of those people. Dumb and naïve,drunk with youth, the world was my canvas and I used it to clean the filth off of my boots. "You're different from the rest; I can almost see the vines wrapped around your bones". "If only you would let me". Things were different then as things are different now. I was yet to experience my first real heartache, my first real kiss, my first plunge into the abyss that would eventually crush my spirit and then rebuild me from my ruins. Aslaysha was my anchor, the only thing holding me together. Needless to say, the day she left was the day the whole world went away. Perhaps the answers to all of life's mysteries can be found at the bottom of another bottle. (10/30/2017)