Maybe in Another life

ore weeds than wildflowers, more brown than green, and often overrun with dan

e as I wandered aimlessly through the neighborhood. I didn't know where I was going; I just wanted to be anywhere but there. Somehow

ere were no manicured lawns, no tidy flowerbeds, no benches for people to

t as my own

ill felt like the only place in t

l burned faintly from the coughing fit earlier, and I could feel the crumpled tissue in my pocket, a persistent reminder of the

ost

sky, casting long shadows that stretched across the meadow like dark fingers. I made my way to the old tree

nt from years of use. This wasn't the same diary I wrote in at night; that one stayed hidden in my room, a repository for secre

page and let the pen

-

for the first t

anchoring me to a moment I couldn't es

. The boys had cornered me at recess again, laughing as they called me names I didn't understand but knew were cruel. My

n he ap

ha

d a wide smile. But even back then, he had a presence abou

ne sit down beside me. "Why are you crying?

as the girl no one liked? The one who was t

seem to need

e ground and holding it out to me. "They're just mean because they're bore

at his face. There was no pity in his eye

felt warm in my belly. The fi

only person to ever

-

ng up at the canopy above. The sunlight filtered through the leaves,

nged so much s

warm. But he belonged to a

a magnet drawing everyone toward him. He was the kind of person who made you fee

anym

letting the memori

ain. How he told them to leave me alone, his voice firm and unwavering. How

ed at me afterward, his hand

em win, okay?

e, I belie

of eroding things

-

e returned. I pressed a hand to my mouth, muffling the sound, and waited for the

was no

no

adow stretched out before me, a patchwork of weeds and wildflowers swaying in the

ch longer I could ke

minder that the feelings I'd buried for so long were startin

t could

Mih

ake me laugh. Bitter and hollow,

n't unde

ould

to my secret like it was the o

inting the meadow in shades of gold and or

e the world felt smaller and quieter. To the

at least, I co

the petals di

I wasn't fa

for a little while,