“To the girl I saw at last call, your eyes are bleeding mascara as you somberly stumble out of the bar, smudged lipstick along your mouth from the cigarettes you stuck between your teeth - as if the shots of cheap alcohol weren’t enough to take off the edge. you’re walking in the opposite direction of the guy you were inside with, a haunting smirk looming on your lips. i can’t help but wonder if this is the beginning or the end to a love story. how will you wake up tomorrow? hungover and wistful, or to the good morning text of a boy you could fall in love with? i can tell by the scabs on your knees that you take life by its horns. you’ve held on until your hands were chapped and blistered, until the breath had been kicked out of your lungs as you lay on the ground. all that’s left is the feeling of gravel and concrete against your skin. the bruises on your elbows match the ones on your ego, each drop rotting your insides. how many careless pricks held you in their hands and let go, and how many times did you fall out of careful hands under the misconception that you could save yourself? which happened inside of that bar? my friend said she felt sorry for you as you reached for a seat on the sidewalk, but i honestly don’t. truth is, you’re on the other side of the looking glass just searching for your way out. bottles aren’t maps, and drugs won’t be your compass. you’ve got to buckle down and break through, because trust me, i’ve been there. the best way is to shatter, and i’m not talking about the glass. shatter and take the pieces of yourself, fit them through the cracks, and when you’re on the other side, build yourself up like the new york skyline and put the rest of the world to god damn shame. be an architect and demolish every decaying wall inside of you, and in the morning, find that boy’s number and call him to remind him that despite your raging hangover, you are still alive. remind him that regardless of the vacancy in your heart, you have a capacity to love those who need it most, but in this moment, your priority is you. and it’s going to stay that way.”
