twenty-fourth day, april, twenty-twenty six.

I watched the times go by and you were not there.

The good times, the bad times, the days I won, the days I failed.

I needed you and you were not there. I yearned for your presence so much that I learned to embrace your absence.

I thought I'd have you to share these burdens with. It turns out I'm alone. Like a dog waiting for crumbs to fall from the table, I still flinch at every sound — thinking you're the one. But I have hoped, and it is this hope that now kills me.

You're not there. You're not here. I don't know where you are.

But I've got to keep going, because these things are ephemeral — and I'm not the first to feel this way. Right?! Isn't that what they say?

Or that some people have it worse? That's how they say it, right?

Either way, I'll carry it.

You're not here, you're not there. I don't know where you are. It hurts. But I can't do anything about it.