Sometimes I see familiarity in strangers as they pass, going about their lives in oblivion. I feel a ***** of nostalgia as ocean waves of memory collapse my breathing lungs, seizing them into a fit of painful gasps and muscle spasms.
In. Out. In. Out.
I breathe in the exhaust fumes and grind my feet firmly into the now. Smell the wind, feel the sun beating relentlessly on my bare skin.
It's just a memory, but those eyes held the same darkness I once saw, a long time ago in a plane of desperation and fear. The sweat would bead on my forehead as his fury wrapped around me like a blanket of suffocation.

Sometimes my stomach falls out my **** and my heart hitches in my throat. Sometimes I think I'll die from the lack of oxygen and my entire existence will cease and slip into meaninglessness and THEN.... then I remember I'm not your pawn anymore. I'm not your effing punching bag and I DO mean something. I am SOMEONE. A good someone. A WORTHY someone. Not your nothing. Because I am my own now. I love me even if you never did.

Now I walk with my head high, a purpose. A reason. Because I'm no longer your nothing.