everything people couldn't say out loud.

“why do i feel so guilty about my pain? as if i broke myself and it's my own fault. i keep saying life could be worse, like i don't even deserve to feel hurt. no wonder i'm carrying all of it alone. i just wanna feel it. it's mine. i want to feel pain without feeling guilty. how do i do that?”

“you will get your spark back. your soul will sing and your heart will beat light again. all the storms that seem to move through you will pass. you'll look back at this version of yourself with tenderness, because despite everything, you kept going. and that is something beautiful.”

“not all hearts break the same. some break piece by piece... until one morning you don't enjoy anything. you no longer feel anything. this is the saddest kind of heartbreak: the one that breaks unnoticed by anyone.”

“i may not be texting you, but you're always on my mind. i may not greet you when i wake up... but you are the last person i think about when i go to sleep. i know where i stand... yet i will always care about you. just please take care and be happy, and don't forget that i love you.”

“i know we haven't talked in a long time, and there are a lot of good reasons for that... but i think about you way too much. i don't know how to check up on you from afar anymore... i just hope that you're okay. you hurt me a lot, but i don't hold it against you. i've learned how to let go. but i truly wish you the best.”

“i need you to do something for me... i need you to let me go. you have to. in another life, maybe there we loved each other right, and we were happy. we did all the things we said we would. but we got lost... you were my friend, and now a stranger... but you'll always be my favorite memory.”

“it's weird, isn't it... how even after everything, part of you still hopes. you swear you won't let anyone close again, but you keep hoping this time might be different. you start planning your exit before they even give you a reason to leave. but some people really mean it when they say they'll stay. you're not broken. you're just learning how to feel safe again.”

“lately it's like he hasn't really been himself. distant. he said it's like nothing really matters... including me. which is not like him. i don't know how to reach him without scaring him off. i just don't want him to carry it alone.”

“it's never like in the movies. no big fight. no dramatic goodbye... it's quieter. the calls get shorter, the laughter fades... you're sitting right next to each other and it feels like you're miles apart. you can't even point to the moment. there's no line you can draw and say this is where it broke. it just... faded. and that silence almost hurts more than if you had screamed.”

“do you ever miss something that never happened? i miss the version of us that lived only in my head. the future we planned but never lived. the mornings we never woke up to... how do you grieve for something that was never real? it feels like mourning a ghost of a life that never existed, but somehow hurts as if it did.”

“if the love is real, i'll see you again. maybe not in weeks, months or even years... but at some point we'll meet. and next time, we will do it right. but for now, we're just two strangers carrying each other's secrets... i'll hold on to the moments we've shared, even if they remain just whispers in the wind. take care.”

“of course everything is falling apart... your new life will cost you your old one, because growth was never meant to be painless. it makes sense that it hurts, because you cared so much. the further you walk, you're leaving behind pieces of who you were... but you're just making room for who you're becoming. someone stronger. someone who finally chooses themselves.”

“if someone offered you a lost and found box with everything you've ever lost... what's the very first thing you would search for? a person... or a version of you? something you didn't even know you missed? would you choose to look, if remembering hurts? would you put it all back, or keep just one thing? what if it no longer fits the person you've become?”

“do you ever just wanna disappear? just... delete everything and shut yourself off... and completely isolate... yeah... me too.”

“hi, i'm just calling to know how are you doing. and if you need anything, please call me back. i've been waiting for your call for like a week now. okay.”

“first message on the machine. if you found this place, you were meant to. welcome home”

“just calling to let you know that i finally got the license”

“i miss you so much i can’t breathe”

“first message on the machine. if you found this place, you were meant to. welcome home.”

“one day the light finds its way back. i'm writing this from the other side to tell you it's true.”

“i'm doing okay. not great. okay. you always knew the difference. nobody else checks.”

“you told me once that nobody stays. i've spent two years trying to prove you wrong and you'll never even know.”

“i wasn't ready for how quiet the apartment got. the dog still waits by the door sometimes. me too, i guess.”

“kid, you spend so much time trying to be older. one day you'd give anything for a tuesday at that kitchen table.”

“you did the best you could with what you knew. i'm only now understanding how little that was.”

“i hope her new place doesn't get good light. that's it. that's the message.”

“we never dated. we never even talked about it. and somehow you're still the one i compare everyone to.”

“i still have the voicemail you left on my birthday. i don't listen to it. i just like knowing it's there.”

“if you ever wonder whether anyone remembers the way you laughed at your own jokes... i do.”

“mom. i know we don't say it. but i learned how to love people quietly from watching you.”

“i forgave you. not because you asked. because i got tired of carrying it.”

“you used to stay up making playlists for people you loved. i hope you start doing that again someday.”

“i'm sorry i got quiet. it wasn't about you. i just didn't know how to be a person for a while.”

“i keep almost texting you when something funny happens. today it happened twice.”

“dad, i got the job. you would've pretended it was no big deal and then told everyone at the shop.”

“you were my best friend before you were anything else. that's the part i actually miss.”

“i drove past your street yesterday. i didn't slow down. i'm calling that progress.”