Words by Zoe Kelly
Art by Olivia Tait
If my life were a story
Would you read me cover to cover
Or would you bookmark the pages that you liked
The easy ones
The uncomplicated sentences
The journey leading somewhere
And leave the rest behind?
Would I be scribbled in the margins
Dog eared
Left on a shelf to gather dust
For you to look back on one day
And think
I remember that I loved her once
My story was a cliff edge
The next chapter hangs unfinished
Unblemished by the memories
That are no longer mine
You closed the book when things got hard
And now I am the chapter
That started with goodbye
Maybe my story ends alone
Maybe words are all we have left
The underlined sentences
Smudged with tears and time
Maybe the real me has faded
Illegible and forgotten
Because you could not read between the lines
So I will be the one
To find the words this time
And even if the story I tell
Is the life I live without you
At least that story is mine
The first words I put on paper
After it happened:
I am starting again
And now I write my own way in this world
On the pages you left unfinished
The end of all I know
Is a blank slate
A new page
A fresh start
One that goes where I take it
And finds its own way
With the end of all things
Comes wherever life leads me next
Is my future unwritten?
I keep the pages closed for now
But not erased
And I start again
