living with a grief-shaped hole in your chest leaves you reaching for fire. all the time. you wonder if it's ever gonna go away and the truth is that it won't. you learn to live with it. you tell yourself that for years, you fall in love, you feel happy, and you have these pockets of time where it's not so suffocating, but it doesn't get easier. this companion that follows you forever, in the shadows, in the light. not consistently anyway. some days it's a bit easier to breathe. some days you're knee-deep in sorrow. most days you can barely break the surface.


















