at night when we all watched movies my younger sister cuddled into my father’s side at night, eating pancakes for breakfast without a second thought and had a knack of breaking out in song whenever she felt the urge

and it was the year my sister turned 15 and went to high school and noticed she didn’t have a thigh gap like the other girls then her eyes drained empty and she squirmed in my father’s side, drinking coffee for breakfast, and with sealed lips music blared through her headphones.

then one day a sliver of light shown in her dark eyes and my sister smiled a small smile as though thinking a sweet thought to herself before cuddling into my father’s side after nights of absence and she added sugar and chocolate powder to her bitter coffee and had a cereal bar for breakfast after glancing at the calorie count and hummed along to the music blaring in her headphones,

and the day I realized my sister wouldn’t be the same was the day I was grateful for her getting better and the year she turned twenty I watched her choke out “I do” and kiss the boy who helped her out of her dark hole the year she turned 15 and there was nothing more beautiful on this planet.

-Mars S.