“are you seriously putting on makeup?
you genuinely don’t need any, baddie.”
his nickname for me.
i press play in the dark
and let his voice caress my aching soul.
in the mirror,
a full face of insecurities stares back.
i stop the recording.
my phone glitches,
playing the audio from our final fight.
i reach for the screen.
stop. please.
the audio cuts to static.
for a single second,
i am twelve again
and the world hasn’t split open.
then the silence returns
and i remember
we are strangers now.