Cover art by @audryhanna_
i used to bleed myself dry for you. your name stained my lips worse than rogue lipstick but i liked the way everyone would stare even if it made me look stupid for you. i wanted it to be your heart that beat for mine; i longed for the day when it would be us again and i would wake up in your arms instead of desperately checking my phone for anything from you.
and now here we are, standing at opposite sides of the mess we made. i found a way to uncurl my shoulders and the air over here tastes sweeter even without your cologne hanging in the air. you’re a fading figure. all i can see now is the ivy around your throat and the bleeding hearts you hold, their petals crushed behind your back. it seems like the poison has become your blood; it seeps through your words and runs from your eyes.
here are the secrets you’ll never know:
i trembled like a willow tree when i first tasted the venom on your tongue. now, i make it wine.
i clutched my stomach when you said the only thing i deserved was rose thorns to make my palms bleed. what you don’t know is that i found a way to pull them out and heal the scars.
here are the lies you believe are truths:
you believe you know how to hurt me when you tell me i don’t deserve better. you think you’ve left your mark on the songs i sing and the poetry that drips from my fingers. you think i am not strong enough to tear your hands from my neck and not flinch from the bruises.
you fucking wish.
you wish i meant nothing to you but no matter how many castles you build from the bricks you’ve laid, they will all be because of me. you pray to god my name could be erased from your skin and the memories that remain in your head, but there will never be a way to forget.
i am unimaginable. i am the wine that stains your new girl’s white dress. i am the drought that knows no end; not until you know there will be no removing me. i will always linger in the moments of a dying summer, when the leaves fall like you did for me.
there is no undoing this. the unbecoming was a lie, a false comfort to bring you solace.
and the retribution?
the retribution is mine.
