I Left My Mark On

Ruth Hadn't Talked To My Sister Since Before My Death, And Then It Was Only To Excuse Herself In The Hallway At School. But She'd Seen Lindsey Walking Home With Samuel And Seen Her Smile With Him. She Watched As My Sister Said Yes To Pancakes And No To Everything Else. She Had Tried To Imagine Herself Being My Sister As She Had Spent Time Imagining Being Me.

Our Only Kiss Was Like An Accident- A Beautiful Gasoline Rainbow.

Each Time I Told My Story, I Lost A Bit, The Smallest Drop Of Pain.

I Missed Her Then But It Was An Odd Sort Of Missing Because By Then, I Knew The Meaning Of Forever.

Hold Still," My Father Would Say, While I Held The Ship In The Bottle And He Burned Away The Strings He'd Raised The Mast With And Set The Clipper Ship Free On Its Blue Putty Sea. And I Would Wait For Him, Recognizing The Tension Of That Moment When The World In The Bottle Depended, Solely, On Me.