.
"Everyone sees you.
All they see is beauty.
Your natural redness, with luxurious petals, ever so slightly moving in the breeze.
That's what they see.
But they aren't the ones holding you.
They aren't the ones with punctured hands from your thorns, keeping us connected.
I try to tell them.
They call me a liar while the blood is running down my arms.
Now with you gone.
All they have is your beautiful image.
But I know the truth.
I have the scars to prove it.
It's not your fault.
Your thorns were not grown intentionally.
You didn't mean to hurt me.
But that does not heal my scars.
That does not clean up the mess you left behind.
They all say you're watching at my side.
The ghost of you.
They don't know what that really means.
They don't know that all I see, is the thing that gave me such scars.
They don't know that it does not put my mind at ease.
I was the only one who ever held you.
I was the only one who truly suffered.
And yet..
I still needed you.
Your thorns connected with my skin weren't meant to be ripped out.
I wasn't supposed to let you go.
Because despite the pain.
Despite the blood.
Despite the scares it left.
Despite everything you did to me.
I loved you more than any of them did."
