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That day, stop lights flashed, the light show of the night.
Tires squealed in the distance.
Horns and screams: the chirping of city birds.
The streetlights melted yellow into the black sky, like butter in the pan, sizzling with a pleasant fluorescent hum.
Flags fluttered in the nighttime breezes, wilting with none to salute them.

But, I just cannot stop thinking about the way you held your teddy bear that night.
At the tips of your fingers, loose, but not forgotten.
Who would have guessed that would be the last time you would ever hold him?

I am locked in your doll house.
Sitting patiently on tiny plastic furniture that you will never re-arrange again.
I am paralyzed on your twin bed, dressed in purple cotton sheets that almost still smell of you.
It almost feels like you’re here again.
I cannot let go of your voice.
I ***** wildly in an empty world,
not really knowing what I expect to latch on to.
Not knowing what prayers to say to bring you back.
these hot Florida days─
drenched in sweat.
mosquitos buzzing away
their tunes of bellies
full with blood.
nothing can match the power
of humidity on the soul
rushing our bodies into
the haven of the air conditioning
and even then
as we cool off from the heat
we prove our love
with kisses on the cold kitchen floor.
Today is the first day of my life.
I will grow. I will be steady.
There will be days when I stand in the rain, let it soak me to my skin.
Feel the beating of my heart, your heart against the pavement, pounding in my ears.
I sit on the bench amongst the leaves.
A vast sea of sod that makes me wonder how I could think that I am alone.
I used to wonder who I was. I would look at my arms, my legs, so alien.
But now I know who I am. I’ve tested the waters. Felt them burn me, boil me.
Yet each day I came back. Each day I wanted more.
The insanity of my life defined my every moment, led me to my deepest low, my highest high.
I sat around for days, neglecting my showers.
Sleep was for those too afraid of the night.
If only you knew the things I saw before my eyes, waking dreams.
And it all sounds like a story, like it could even be you
until you don’t even know who you are anymore.
You don’t even know how I curled up and cried on my bathroom floor that night,
my body stinging from the scent of you.
I don’t think I can ever forget.
I’ll be cleaning myself of you until I can’t remember my name.
Until everything that I know is erased by the bustling of time.
In my shell I am safe
Within the confines of my limited soul
Each earthly tendency smiles upon my existence like rain.
To tomorrow I know not what I should say
Except for thank you,
That I might live another day.
That I might wake up tomorrow nestled in the covers
Of my sanity
And pray to a God that has guided me
Through many a thick wreath of pain and suffering.
But today is brighter
That I might have hope that I might give hope
And live not in the shadow of illness,
But rather in the sunshine of recovery.
Who was I before this?
I neither know, nor can I say.
The thin line that divides us
Gets farther everyday

And when I look in hindsight
The memories on the shelf,
Seem to belong elsewhere,
Never to myself.

Who then am I?
This girl beneath my skin
The quirky little smile,
The happy little grin.

They’re nothing but a cover,
A facade tall and proud,
Stronger than anything ever read,
Or ever said aloud.

And in the night I wonder
Who it is that I’m becoming,
Or what’s the source of the pain
That I have been numbing
days with you:
like sand in the wind
they slip away.
each gentle touch,
each kiss,
leaves memories on my skin
whispering long after you are gone
that I am never alone
There were the days, dad,
When I thought of us as different
The nights all alone without a shred of paternal guidance,
Maternally smothered, and fostered grown.
And then I saw how very alike to you I am
How my mind doesn’t function—
How I stay up for nights on end
and stay in bed for weeks.
How I am lonely.
And oh—dad—how you’ve trapped me to your fate.
I wish—oh I wish that I could break free of you.
But then, how can the ocean break free of its waves?
You are a part of me, We are the same.
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