Each time I feel the words "I love you" slithering on my tongue, like a rattlesnake waiting to strike, I get the urge to flea. Run off into the sunset without leaving you with a proper goodbye. No note on your door, just a Swiss amry knife. The remains of me cutting our ties to push you out of harms way. I am a condemned house; Rotting from the inside out, and I don't want you to make a home inside of me. My walls will cave in, destroying us both in the end. So prove to me, you still know how to build a tent. I am afraid my broken pieces are to much for you to handle. I don't want to hurt you in the process of hurting myself because you are trying your hardest to hold me together. Your hands aren't strong and your palms aren't calloused, you are tender. You are bare feet in fresh soil. You are pure. You are a cool glass of lemonade. You are fragile. You are the burnt orange leaves on a windy autumn day. I am not worth the shards of glass in your veins. You told me you have a scar on your right knee from when your mother smashed a picture frame, and another on the upper corner of your cheek from when your father threw a beer bottle at your face. I have always wanted to own a piece of the sky but I can't let myself be a part of the constellation of marks left on your body from pain. You were a Boy Scout who's first badge earned was for being fearless, but for you that word and the word foolish are one in the same.
-Kahla Mercadante