ra

amily's faces, seeking to mem

y cheek, calling me

over, she would cook my favorite meals

ce and remembered the grueling sacri

ry single injection, her grip a c

ight, and a sour bile would rise in my throat, summoning the memory

ugs left a constant, gna

pain for two years, never

ed smile, comforting them

g that left me gasping for air ov

into my cupped hands, terrifi

my mother used to brush every

aldness beneath a

evere insomnia an

to muffle my whimpers, desperate not to w

y own body

ibrant ballet dancer i

ion bl

sted into unrecognizable shapes,

friends at school because I was

ho was currently cho

brutal round of chemo had broken

m if I would e

op the treatments becau

ng and repeating the lie tha

mafia Capo-had red eyes and a trembling vo

cheap hair clips an

ip to my hair, he realize

he pinned the clip

er in the world and begged

ken turns c

s, wiped my sweating body, and o

away themselves from t

er, crying and beggi

ot being strong enoug

, apologizing in return, claiming

r words were born o

d they were born of twis

g because they were

doubt they

knew, that love was

t cramp ripped t

ating through my

reading-slowly, deliberately, the way their li