All too suddenly
It has been years since we’ve spoken
I still remember everything that I’m sure you take special care not to
It is so hard to believe that we exist in the same world anymore
Like you were a figment of my imagination from the beginning
A very detailed and surreal experience
A hallucination
And as I go on to live more life than I ever thought I would
The shadow of who you were lingers at my heels
Sneering, judging, laughing at me
For being able to be happy
After everything I am able to love
With more walls than before
But still, I love
But I am still able to laugh
With less spark in my eyes
But I am still able to to give
Bits and pieces of myself
To those I feel are worthy
Because my existence didn’t end when you stole every bit of me
Pieces grew back
Changed and different and some brand new
But they grew back
Bit by bit I became whole again
Built of parts you did not trace your damning fingers over
Words you did not put into my head and breathe into my reality
I am whole
I am new
And yet still
It is not my own shadow that creeps around my feet
Biting at my legs
It is yours
I am not the same person
If I lost you in a crowd today you wouldn’t know who to look for to find me again
Consider yourself lost — Shadow