i am me and you are we. / lace&alaska { blitz.

Gum wrapper twisting in my damp fingers, I'm terrified I'll rip it into two like she did my heart so I place it in the pocket of my hand-me-down dress and wait for them to take me away.

Sunlight dancing across the floor, I think about the girls who promised to take care of West and I shift nervously. I cannot shake how willing they were to hurt her before - their fists still sing against my skin long after the bruises had faded and I can't help but wonder why, when, for how long, until it's West or no food, West or their sisters, West or the dirty streets.

My hands are shaking something furious for I know what they'll choose every time.

There's nobody left. Nobody left to say goodbye. I suppose it's easier to mourn your life cut short when there's only one person who will care. No parents to grieve your absence, no hearts to rip out of chests, no hands to hold or arms to cling to.

At least I've got West.

Had West.

There's nobody left to say goodbye but I still feel empty, as if my life had already been drained out of me, as if I had died in the snow last winter and I was simply haunting this world as a ghost of a girl.

When the door opens I accept my fate as it is, waiting for arms to haul me towards the inevitable, to meet death and all his friends.

Perhaps I'll find a family within another life.