i really thought i’d lost you.
it’s not quite a smile . mouth is twisted up , even a quick flash of white teeth ; he’s gone through all the motions of smiling . each and every step . it still doesn’t work / doesn’t look or feel right . too BITTERSWEET . too guilty . haunted by actions and mistakes and ghosts . by a pile of letters on a countertop as they left before dawn even broke . some had been THICKER than others , and even he can admit there hadn’t been enough in @bhells . some part of them is surprised she even came ... and some part of him just can’t find the words . to reassure ( lie ) that she hadn’t or deliver the blunt truth . he lost himself too . those words SCARRED into his hand were a contradiction , a lie themselves , the unseen lesson a reminder that he must not tell the truth . “ better or for worse , you thought WRONG . i’m right here . forever this time . ”








