Author: Khushboo Chugh
Illustrator: Lauren Poppitt
To all the people around the world who have been bullied or who are currently a victim of bullying.
1
A ringing sound in the background blended into my dream, making it unbearably horrifying.
I sat up in my bed, gasping for air, as I remembered the harsh words. But then again, they weren’t that different from those being thrown my way these days.
Nothing seemed to stop it. Just when I thought that I would be sleeping a nightmare-less sleep, I woke up, horrified at what I had just seen. It wasn’t exactly so much different from the reality anyway.
They were hurting me. They left no scars; not externally. And the scars all over my heart were there, but no one saw them. I was responsible to take care of my wounds on my own. How did a group of girls manage to have such power
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over me? If I wasn’t so weak, this would never be happening. They shouldn’t be able to get under my skin so quickly. Was that all that they needed, just the power of their words over me and I was ready to give them whatever they wanted?
I was humiliated. Every single day I would walk into school and face the harsh reality. Like all days this past month, that was what I had to do today. I turned off the blaring ringing of the alarm—which seemed to get louder every minute—and
got up to face another one of the terrifying days.
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As I walked on the back pathway that led to my school, I wasn’t really expecting them to be at the
same spot again today. But they were waiting for their prey to pass by.
“Hey, loser! Need another haircut, don’t you?” Rebekah said as Rachel snuck up behind me to pull my hood down and grab my hair.
“What do you think, Becky?” Rachel asked. “How would she look bald? This mess of her’s would be gone for good.”
“Nah, not bald, Rachel. I kind of like her hair. I always wanted this colour.” She took a bunch of my hair and held it against her face “What do you think? How would it look?” She pulled on it purposely, but acted as if she wasn’t trying to.
I cried out in pain.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Abigail. Did that hurt?”
I nodded slightly, not having it in me to say anything without breaking down and drowning in a pool of tears.
“Sweetie, I’m sorry,” Rebekah said. Then suddenly, she kicked my shin. It was drastic, all of a sudden, something I didn’t see coming. I bent down on instinct to touch my leg as I screeched in pain again. “Did this hurt?”
“Becky, don’t do that to her. I think she knows all too well what pain is.”
“So, Abigail Williams,” Rachel nnsaid and came to stand right in
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front of me. She crouched down right before me and looked at me with a forceful glare. I looked up.
“What was it like having lost nearly everyone you love?”
“It’s a good thing she hasn’t lost herself yet,” Rebekah said with mock innocence in her eyes.
“Let me go!” I shouted, on the verge of breaking down again. “I’ve told you so many times before. I don’t want this. Please,” I begged.
“Aww, honey,” Rebekah said, pure venom in her voice. “You don’t have to want this. This is
what we want and we are going to get it. You don’t get what you want, remember?”
“I used to. Before you ruined my life.”
“Abigail, you have no idea what ruined is. We’ve just started. You
have a long way to go.” She then continued to roll out her never-ending list of profanities at me.
I stood frozen for a long moment, before I emerged from the haze and broke into a run with the sounds of their laughter fading into the sounds of my heart thrashing inside my chest.
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love my hair, I loved my life, I loved myself. And as much as I would still like to believe it now, I couldn’t. They ruined me. I tried not to believe their words but what was I supposed to do? If you were told that you didn’t
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“Honey, is everything alright?” Mom asked as I walked in. “You don’t look okay.”
Because I’m not! I want to shout and scream and cry but I can’t.
I wondered if my attempts at hiding the pain were in vain. She always saw through me. And I looked like a wreck these days anyway. I always had a hoodie, hat or a beanie on; practically anything that would help cover my head. I used to love the way I was. I used to
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matter, that you were better dead, that everything about you was pathetic and that you were just a weight on this earth, useless and unwanted, how would you take it? Maybe I could have
just shrugged it off the first few times. But after being told everyday, it’s hard not to believe it. There was nothing I could do to stop it. I couldn’t tell others. I was the minority and they were the popular group in the whole school. Everyone adored them. It was as simple as it got; I was a minor and they were the “Cool Kids”. If I told someone, I would just have to deal with the consequences. Instead of getting help, people would just loathe me instead. I couldn’t have that. Hadn’t I had enough?
A single tear slid out of
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the corner of my eye. “Abi, what’s wrong?” Mom came over and took me into her arms.
I couldn’t stop myself anymore. One month! That was just too long. I couldn’t do it. I ran into her arms, not able to hide it anymore. I was just a fourteen-year old, for god’s sake! I had those boundaries too. My heart could only get to a certain point before it shattered. That’s what was happening now. My heart was shattering
and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Mom held me close, wanting me to let it all out while she gently stroked my face. “Abi, what happened? I knew something was wrong. What is it?
“Mom, I’m scared! I hate me! I don’t want to be me anymore.”
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She seemed to stiffen and
panic a bit at my words. I could feel her heart start racing against my cheek, but she was doing a good job hiding it.
“Abi, you’re one of the most amazing people I know. You used to love the way you were. What happened? Don’t think of yourself that way.”
“Mommy, I can’t do this anymore. They hate me!”
“Who does?” She seemed to get more and more worried by the second. I couldn’t just have these feelings and words build up inside of me anymore.
“Tell me!” I heard the urgency
in her voice and caved. She ought to find out one day anyway, so why not now?
“These girls. There are two of them and they hate me!” She then went to take the beanie off my head but just the movement of it sent me into panic mode. I ran
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to the other side of the room. “Don’t touch me! Please, just don’t touch me!” I shouted. “Please,” I breathed, then burst into heart-wrenching sobs.
It was as if just this one little insignificant moment caused her to understand everything; almost as if I heard it all click together in her brain.
There was a moment of firing rage in her eyes, and as much as I loved my mom, I was afraid for a second. She looked so angry; it was as if her eyes were on fire. I was frightened for a moment, and when she saw the fear and bewilderment in my eyes, her eyes softened and she started towards me slowly.
I backed away without meaning to.
She was my mom; there was nothing to be afraid of. Certainly not her. You can tell her, you can tell her, you can
tell her, I repeated this in my head like a mantra, over and over again, until my brain made sense of it and started believing it.
She came over to me and crouched down in front of me so she could look me in the eyes.
“Abigail, tell me everything.” There was something forceful about her words, not threatening, but calming and encouraging. I didn’t know where to start, so I just stood silently.
Mom saw through me, so she asked, “When did it start? How long has this been going on?”
I thought for a second. “About a month, I think,” I said in a low voice.
“Did they hurt you? Let me see.” She turned me toward her, examining me from side to side, caressing my face, trying to see if there were any wounds,
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scars or bruises. If there was anything she found, something as small as a fingernail mark, it would cause her to be so angry. She was the Sheriff afterall; no one was ever supposed to hurt her daughter, her only
family and the most valuable thing to her. I held her hands. “No, Mom, I’m okay. They didn’t hurt me. Just pulled my hair a lot a kicked me a few times. They treated me like I was trash, Mom,” I said, on the verge of tears again.
“They didn’t hurt me too much, they just, they said things that were too… harsh.”
She gave me an exasperated sigh and her body seemed to slouch for a second, with relief that I wasn’t hurt physically and with worry and annoyance that I was wounded emotionally. “Abi, why didn’t you tell me?” she asked with pure misery in her voice.
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“Your whole life I have been telling you to approach me with problems, and for the entire month you were going through the hardest time of your life and you decide not to tell me? Without your father, I have had to take care of everything. I know you miss him a lot but you need to know that I put you before my job and every other thing in this world. If something were to happen to you, how am I supposed to ever forgive myself for not paying attention to you?”
Tears rolled down my
cheeks. “Mom,
this is my fault. Please, don’t blame yourself. I know I should have told you but I was scared, I was so, so afraid.”
She took me into her arms, and for the first time in awhile, I felt loved. Because even though I always knew that she loved me, that there were people in
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this world who loved me and they would never hurt me, I couldn’t believe that when there were so many who would go out of their way to ruin me. “What did they do? What did they say?”
“I hate them, Mom! They tell me I don’t matter and that I will never get what I want because of the way I am. They said that that’s why Daddy left us, and that’s why I don’t have Grandma and Grandpa. They said that if I am going to be this way, then everyone is going to leave me, and that no one will ever stay by my side because no one loves me! That’s true, isn’t it?” I could feel how hard she was trying
to keep it together but I could tell she was on the verge of tears too. “Abigail, listen to me.” She backed up to look at me. “You matter. I love you more
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than my life. You are the most valuable thing in this world. Your Grandma and Grandpa loved you, and they left you because they had to go eventually, but they left with the wish that you would have a happy life ahead of you. And your Dad,” she paused, took and deep breath and continued. “You know how much he loved you while he was still alive. He watches over you and he loves you. He wants you to have every chance at a happy life. He wants you to live
your dreams, to have all the happiness in this world, to get everything you deserve for your hard work. This is not how he would want you to think of yourself.
“Don’t believe everything any insignificant person tells you. This is your life and we are not going to
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let anyone come in and ruin it.. You deserve to be happy, and you deserve to love and be loved.”
Something about the way she said it made me believe that there was still a chance that I could have a happy life. I had my mom and even though I thought I had lost myself, I knew that some little piece of me was still deep inside, waiting to come out, waiting for me to embrace it again with an open heart.
There were things I knew about myself. There were
things people knew about me. But out of every piece of me, there were a million that belonged to me and only a hundred that I chose to share. I belonged to me more than I belonged to anyone else. This was my life and I deserved to be happy. Then how was it so easy for just two people, two people, to come and ruin it?
“Mom, if I deserve to be happy, then why was it so easy for them to come and break me? Why wasn’t I strong enough to fight it? There must have been something that I could have done. This just proves them right. This just proves that I am one of the
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weakest humans on Earth. How am I the strong person you want me to be?” She held me close, putting her cheek on my head, as she stroked my back gingerly. “Abigail, you’re strong. The fact that you were able to get through this without breaking down proves that you are strong. When someone criticizes you and hates you with all their heart, it means they are unsatisfied with who they are and they aren’t able to accept themselves and carry on with their own life in peace, so they want to find ways to destroy others.”
I couldn’t help but laugh a little, wiping my tears with the palms of my hands. There was
definitely some truth to that. Rebekah and Rachel were upset with who they were. “That’s exactly what they are.”
“And honey, it’s not about what I want you to be, it’s what you want yourself to be. Of course I want you to be a good person but I don’t want you to be under pressure to become what I want you to be and not the person you want to make yourself.” She held my shoulders and shook me forcefully, as if this would root her words into my mind, my body
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and my heart. “Abigail, you matter. You need to believe in yourself.”
I think she accomplished what she was aiming to do. It was as if I could feel her words travelling down my spine, to my legs, coming back to me over and over, echoing in my ears. � Then they finally reached my heart and all I could hear inside myself was, You matter, Abigail Elizabeth Williams! Get over yourself! Rebekah and Rachel are people who don’t matter. They shouldn’t. They have tried to bring you down and you almost fell into that
black hole. If you had fallen into it, then you wouldn’t be able to come out. Ever. So, don’t let an insignificant person just come in and ruin you. You matter, Abigail! You are your own person and you deserve to have a happy life. You are beautiful, you matter and you are SIGNIFICANT!
These words echoed in my ears and I just froze where I stood,
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overwhelmed by the happiness and satisfaction of the moment. If life could be this satisfying and easy every single day, then how happy would I be? I was smiling from ear to ear.
It was a good feeling, as if a huge weight, every worry, every bad thought and every negative moment and emotion flew out of my heart and dissolved into thin air.
I looked up at Mom and threw myself at her, embracing her and accepting this new feeling I'd discovered. “Thank you,” I whispered. “I thought I'd lost myself. But I haven't. I just needed help, I just needed someone to be here. I just needed to shake these thoughts out of my head and talk to me. I just,” I trailed off into silence, not being able to say anymore.
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Mom smiled. “Sweetie, I'm always here for you. I always have been and I always will be. You should know that it's not that easy to lose yourself but we need to stop this.”
“Stop what?” I asked, confused.
“Abi, I helped you and you were able to get out of it before you lost yourself but we can't let that happen to anyone else. These two girls, whoever they may be, they aren't going to stop until they realize their mistake. They need to know that trying to ruin someone or make themselves feel bad about
themselves is so easy for them but the victim goes through a great deal of bewilderment, pain and confusion. Not every person is able to get help in time and by the time anyone finds out, it could be too late. Abi, you are too young to understand how serious I am and whatever happened to you could be a whole lot worse. I’m the Sheriff, Abi. If I let these things pass then how am I supposed to be called a responsible parent or a good cop?”
“Mom, what exactly are you going to do?” I asked, a cold sweat breaking across my forehead.
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Mom put her hand on my cheek. “Don’t worry about it, Abigail. Your mother’s got this.”
My heartbeat increased. “Mom, please don’t get them in trouble. They won’t spare me. They’ll do it to me again. Mom, please don’t. Please,” I begged.
“Abigail, I will never let them hurt you again,” she said. I leaned into her, feeling comforted by her words. As long as I had my Mom, no one was going to hurt me. “You’re coming with me first thing tomorrow morning. I’ll wake you up early. I need to take care of this,” she said.
This was it. Mom said that
they would never bother me again, she was going to make sure of that.
But did I really want that for them? Could I do that to anyone? People came and went and people loved and hated you for who you were. However, if I started walking down the street, taking out every person who’d ever been rude to me, who’d ever hurt me, who’d ever wronged me, what would it say about me? How would it define me as a person? As much as I hated them and as much as I would want them to stop the way they were and never bully anyone ever again,
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could I really have them get in trouble because of what they did to me? I shook my head as I cleared out my thoughts. They deserved this. I couldn’t doubt it. I shouldn’t doubt it. They were going to pay for what they’d done and they were going to to clean up the mess they’d made. I was going to do whatever it took now.
They were going down, because, now it was my time to rise and shine.
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I paced outside the principal’s office, trying to figure out what was going on inside. What was Mom saying to Mr. Jones and how was he reacting? What was he saying, what was he doing? What was he going to do?
When it was too long for me to wait, I went to his door and knocked on it. I opened the door a little so I could peak in.
“Aaron, who knows how long this has been-” I saw Mom standing with her back to me and Mr. Jones’s face in a mask
of extreme worry.
“Can I come in now?” I interrupted.
Mr. Jones smiled. “Of course,” he invited and I walked in. Mom put her arm around me. “Abi, would you mind if Mr. Jones
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asked you something?”
I really didn’t want to answer but there was nothing I could do about it. I gave a stiff nod.
“Abigail, tell me everything that has been going on for the past month. We need to make sure that whatever happened to you doesn't happen to anyone ever again.”
I nodded again. “Mr. Jones, they did bad things and I don’t like them for it but… I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me,” I said slowly. asad“Abi, we aren’t going to hurt
them. I told you yesterday, no one is going to get hurt now.
“We just need to talk to them. Tell us their names,” Mom insisted.
“Rachel and Rebekah.”
“What?” Mr. Jones exploded, and I flinched. Mom rubbed my back. “Rachel Gilbert who is on the Student Council and Rebekah Curtis who is the captain of our volleyball team?”
I nodded.
Mr. Jones shook his head in disgust. “Unexpected!”
“Abigail, don’t worry about it now. I’ll be taking care of this,” he said and told me to wait outside again.
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Then an announcement came on the intercom, calling Rachel and Rebekah to the office.
This was it. We were going to come face to face again but this time I couldn’t be scared. They couldn’t hurt me in front of the principal and my mom.
I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself. Even though I wasn’t that scared of them anymore, I still didn’t want to see them, because as soon as I did, I was reminded of all the things they had done to me in this past month. Rebekah walked down the hallway and eyed me suspiciously. Just the set of her
mouth had something so threatening and menacing about it. I looked away from her dark, mysterious eyes. Rachel trailed not too far behind and gave me one of those venomous, evil smiles. If
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they could shoot bullets with their eyes, I’d be dead a hundred times by now.
“Did you do this? You told him, didn't you?” Rachel asked, and the hint of worry I wasn’t expecting was clear.
I didn’t answer.
Then Mr. Jones walked out, eyeing both of them with disappointment and called us in.
“Rachel and Rebekah,” he started. “You have been accused of bullying Abigail Williams. Do you accept it?”
“No, Mr. Jones! Why would you think that?” Rachel said, sounding purely innocent. How
could she be such a good actor?
“Mr. Jones, we would never do something like that! How can she accuse us of such a disgusting thing?” Rebekah said, then turned around and rolled her eyes at me where no one else could see.
“But you have!” I screamed, finally finding my voice. “You have been for the past month.”
“Abigail, please!” Rachel said. “You may not like us, but you can not accuse us of something like this! We have barely ever talked and now suddenly we get called to the principal’s office where we
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are being accused of bullying a girl we have barely even talked to? Gee, Mr Jones, how can you doubt us? We have always done everything the way this school wanted and have been meeting your expectations since the very first day. How can you believe someone insignificant so easily?”
It wouldn’t have hurt so much if I hadn’t seen the tiny bit of doubt in Mr. Jones’s eyes. Did he not believe me or did he think that they were just too good to do something
like this?
“My daughter is not-” Mom started but Mr. Jones cut her off.
“Sheriff, please, let me handle this. Why don’t you and Abigail step out for a second while I deal with this?”
Mom was about to protest but he raised a hand and said, “Ms. Williams, I can deal with this.”
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Mom just nodded, took my hand and walked with me out of the room.
As soon as we were outside, I hugged her close.
“You’ll be okay,” she said. With that promise, I snuggled closer into her arms, needing the warmth after receiving so many cold stares and stabs to my heart.
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Rachel walked out with Rebekah right beside her. To my surprise, there were tears on their faces.
For as long as I’d known them, I’d never seen them weak, this regretful. The tears in their eyes and the apology on their faces was all I needed to know that Mr. Jones had succeeded.
Rachel walked up to me and smiled, and for the first time, she seemed genuine. Had she actually realized that they
were wrong?
“Abigail, we are sorry,” Rebekah said.
“Mrs. Williams, could we please talk to Abigail alone?” Mom raised her eyebrows at them.
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“I assure you, she’ll be okay with us,” Rachel guaranteed.
Mom smiled, or tried to, but I could see that she was worried. Then she walked away and, for some reason, my heartbeat increased.
“Do you think you can ever forgive us?” Rebekah asked, her eyes showing me that she meant what she was saying.
Yes, I wanted to say, but I had a lump in my throat and I couldn’t find my voice. How was I supposed to do this now?
When my silence grew, Rebekah burst into tears and Rachel stood back, crying silently, not being able to take it either. “Abigail, please, you’ll cost me my position on the Student Council!” Rachel pleaded. “I’m
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the President, I need that position!”
“And everyone will know. People will hate me!” Rebekah said breathlessly. I could see that they were about to lose it.
For once, it seemed as if they were the helpless ones and as if I held power against them now. As if just the fact that I didn’t forgive them would cost them everything they cared about.
It might seem as if I liked this feeling, the power, the control and their helplessness, as I had been under
this power for too long. However, I didn’t like them like this. This was not who they were. This was not who I was. Of course, they weren’t supposed to be bullying anyone ever again, but I didn’t want them to lose who they were.
I knew exactly what it felt like to have someone try to take away who you were from you but I didn’t want that for anyone. I don't want to do that to anyone.
Forgiveness was bliss, that was what my mom said. And she was right, she was always right. Because I could feel it now.
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I didn’t like having this sort of power over someone. They didn’t belong to me, they belonged to themselves and I belonged to me; just me.
“I can forgive you,” I
started, and immediately a smile covered both of their faces “I need you to guarantee that you would never bother-”
“We’ll never bother you ever again,” Rachel promised.
“No! I understand that. But I need you both to promise me that you won’t do this to anyone; ever. You have bothered me enough and I never want that to happen to me again. It’s not fun being treated like an object when you’re human, and I want to make sure that that never happens to anyone again. I can’t have you two bothering or
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bullying me again but I need to ensure that it’s not just me but anyone. Maybe one day you’ll get over this and, as soon as that happens, you’ll go back to your disgusting… acts.” I stopped and took a deep breath. “Can you ensure that?”
They were silent, as if still wondering if they could.
“Can you?” I challenged, my voice getting louder.
And when the silence grew, I said, “Maybe Mr. Jones would be able to explain this better.” I didn’t mean it, but my expression and the tone of my voice was enough to bring the panic back
to their eyes.
“No, please don’t. We’ll never do this again. To anyone.”
”What makes you think I’ll believe you after what you’ve
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done to me? You did it to me, you could easily do it to anyone else.”
“But we won’t!” Rebekah said, her panic growing.
Behind her, Rachel stood petrified. I could see that she wanted to say something, but she couldn’t find her voice. Her eyes had a faraway look in them and I could see the tears pooling in her eyes again, from whatever she was imagining or thinking about.
When Rebekah saw me looking, she turned around and put her hand on Rachel’s shoulder. “Rachel, are you
alright?”
“Huh?” She broke out of her haze, the tears in her eyes finally falling onto her cheeks. I didn’t know what it was about their lives that upset them, that they wanted to ruin others’ and I didn’t know anything about their families or their friends, but I did know that they had each other. Their friendship was the kind of friendship that would last for a long time and no matter what they did, they did it together. “Are you okay, Rachel?” I asked.
She slightly smiled at me. “I guess. As okay as I can be.”
“I’ve had worse,” I said.
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Rachel’s smile vanished and she wore an embarrassed expression. She started towards me, and I cowered back without meaning to.
She smiled comfortingly and put her hands up as she approached me. “That’s what we’re sorry about, Abigail. I understand that this has been hard on you and I do understand that no matter what you do, you’re never going to do something bad. We deserved this sort of treatment, we deserve whatever punishment Mr. Jones has for us. We’ll take it without complaining now,
because I know I deserve it. I think that you did the right thing. We weren't good to you and you hadn’t wronged us in the first place to deserve what we did to you. I’m sorry for what we did, and knowing that even though we might not deserve forgiveness, it would be a relief to know that you forgive us, so we can live without the guilt of doing something horrible. I don’t understand what caused us to do it in the first place-”
Rebekah cut her off. “This isn’t about you, Abigail. You’re a good person and you
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“Why did you hate me though?” I asked, genuinely wanting to know if I had deserved that sort of hate.
“I’m a shallow person,”
Rebekah said with a frown. “My life isn’t good, Abigail and I hate it. Despite knowing that you have lost a lot and know grief better than I do, I still didn’t like you. Also because you’re kind of perfect. You’re pretty, you’re smart, and your mother loves you more than her own life. I have only half
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didn’t deserve this. Rachel,” she said as she turned towards her. “I haven’t been fair to you either. I forced you to do this with me, just because I didn’t like Abigail. This is all my fault. I should never have tried to talk you into doing this with me. I should never have done it either.” The remorse was clear on her face and, for once, I didn’t hate her as much.
of that, and these good looks are NOT what I need.
“I hated you so much! I know you hate us but please if there’s anything we can do to reverse it, we will. I’m ashamed of
myself, and how… dark I have become on the inside.”
“You know I don’t hate you, right?” I asked, wanting them to know the truth.
Rachel shook her head and smiled. “Hard to believe after what we did to you, but yes, I can believe that, because you’re good, Abigail. Stay that way.” She came and embraced me and I put my arms around her.
Then Rebekah came and hugged me and then they both walked away. Rebekah turned around when they were at the end of the hallway. “Can you forgive us, Abigail?”
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I grinned. “I have, but you need to keep your promise.”
“You have our word,” Rachel said, putting her hand over her heart.
Rachel and Rebekah were both good people. It was Rebekkah that had let her hate get in the way of it.
I knew they were the kind of people who had so many similarities and so many differences but at the end of the day, they were the kind of friends everyone wanted.
They looked out for each
other, they fought, they laughed, they had fun, but no matter what they did, they were always going to be together.
As I saw them walk away, I could see that no matter what happened now, their friendship was the kind of friendship that would last forever.
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Mom smiled as I walked over to her when she came out of the shadows.
Mr. Jones came out of his room, but the grin on his face told me that he must have been listening in to see if everything was okay or if it was turning into a fight.
“Great job, Abigail!” he said to me before turning to Mom. “Sheriff, your daughter is so brave! It’s hard to forgive people after being treated that way. Abigail, you make us proud,” Mr.
Jones said, patting me on the back.
After telling me that Mr. Jones wanted to talk to Mom for a moment, they went inside his office again and I sat down on the bench against the wall, deep in
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thought.
Maybe now, after realizing the mistake they had made, after knowing that what they had done wasn’t fair to anyone, that treating a human being like an object was a horrible thing, Rachel and Rebekah would never be that way again.
Rachel and Rebekah were good people. They were bright students and good friends.
But you know what they say, everyone strays from the right path for awhile, and sometimes, even though we think it may be too late to come back, we need to know that it’s not impossible.
All it would take is a bit of
perseverance, some courage, some tolerance for what life throws your way, but at the end of the day, you will succeed.
That’s what happened to Rachel and Rebekah. I could see the regret on their faces, the sadness when they realized how wrong they’d been.
This is what happened for me too, when I thought I’d lost myself. As hurt as I felt, I thought that it was too late to bring me back but it wasn't. I am here, I am alive, breathing, hurt, scarred, wounded, but alright. Those words would
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stay with me forever, there was no changing that, but at the end of the day, if I have myself, people who love me, the courage and will to achieve and succeed, I know there is nothing that could bring me down.
I know I loved myself. My flaws are what made me unique. They are what made me special, because if everyone was the same, then there
would be nothing that would make me the way I am.
This is who I am. This is me. I am not perfect.
I am flawed. It is going to stay that way but maybe, sometimes, some things are good just they way they are.
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