Lulu_D

“Why didn’t you ask for help?”

When I didn’t write for weeks

I was asking for help

When I stopped smiling

When I stopped laughing

When happiness became fake

The hardest part

Wasn’t

Noticing the signs

Hoping they won’t notice the way they hurt you

Knowing they don’t care

Leaving first

Telling yourself to move on

To remember

Is to live in the past

Unable to forget

The wonder and happiness

That emerged from the darkness

To remember

Is insanity

To do the same thing repeatedly

I can’t pretend anymore

I’m not okay,

I’ve never been okay

And I don’t think I’ll ever be okay

But every day I’m trying

Every day I’m learning to love the flaws he hated

Every day I’m writing

I let the phone ring when he calls;

He’s done enough wrong today.

There’s a moment of silence,

Broken by the fourth FaceTime call.

I’m tired of the ringing;

     My name is Lucy Danto. I am in the eighth grade at the McCullough Junior High School in Texas. Please, if even for a brief moment, let my voice be heard.