For M.

I thought we were forever. We built a home together, filled with our routines, promises, unfinished paintings, heart-shaped pancakes, and all the little things I once believed I would have for the rest of my life. Then you left. Now I sit in the home we once shared, surrounded by pieces of you I don't know how to escape. Your perfume. Your gifts. Your side of the bed. Even the smell of coffee reminds me of you, despite the fact that I never really liked drinking it in the first place. I have tried to move on. I have made new friends, buried myself in work, and convinced everyone around me that I am doing just fine. Then your name appears on my screen. That's all it takes to bring you back to every corner of my mind and remind me of the future we almost. Because how I am supposed to forget you when everything around me still remembers us?