Ashlyn Loushin Eyelash When I wake up my brain is quiet. I don’t hit snooze. My heart is finally able to take a deep breath. My hands don’t shake and I don’t have nightmares of you. You with your promises of love that every mother should have for her daughter, turned sour with blood on the carpet and the harrowing knocks of CPS at the door. I don’t think of killing myself. Instead, I make my bed and eat breakfast for the first time in weeks. The taste of fruit loops washes down the thoughts of starving. I don’t think of killing myself. When I get dressed my legs don’t have scars. My eyes in the mirror aren’t swaying with insomnia. There’s no leftover tears to wash away. Only a stray eyelash that I use to make a wish. I won’t think of killing myself. Instead, I leave for class on time and while I walk I don’t think of the ‘I love yous’ to my dad where the only reply is ‘read: one week ago.’ I don’t think of the stepmom who trashed all my things and repainted the walls, after I left. I don’t think of the house that I haven’t been in since September. The place where childhood is meant to blossom, whereas mine was poisoned. I don’t think of the brother I left to the same fate. I don’t think of killing myself.
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