as I stared at my reflection,
the words "you're not good enough" clouded my mind
the person looking directly at me, was not me
it wasn't the person I wanted myself to be
I spent years and years trying to perfect myself in a way where I would be "good enough"
I let every insult slowly tear the very skin that made me human
I wanted to live up to the expectations my parents had,
only to be disappointed with innumerous failures set up along my path
but then I realized
after beating myself up day and night and
after i had no skin left to tear,
that humans weren't meant to be "good enough"
us humans were meant to be better
from then on,
I grew on skin so thick even words couldn't puncture it

"You deserve better"
may have been the biggest lie i've ever been told

He used to look at me with awe,

I would look at his eyes,
they were smiling at me as he saw me
his heart was racing
his hands were shaking

I would look into his eyes,
as he spoke to me
his gentle voice speaking in such a monotonous yet, enchanting tone
his eyes still dancing with glee

I would look into his eyes,
as we sat in silence
because in that moment,
we were the only two people left in the world

but when I looked into his eyes one last time,
he said, "you deserve better"
I saw nothing,
I saw a cold, glassy stare off into the distance
as if every memory we had together had vanished into oblivion.