All my life, I have never been alone.
I have always been accompanied by another,
My beloved twin and best friend.
We were born and she was my mirror image
Everything from her ocean blue eyes to her ghostly pale skin
Were sculpted flawlessly, my perfect replica.
Throughout our childhood, we were inseparable.
We played together, laughed together, cried together.
We would be teased about our freckled faces
Our carrot-coloured hair and our sunburnt cheeks.
Whenever times would get sombre and rough
I would persistently lean on her for guidance,
And in turn, she would lean on me.
She was my rock, strong and solid.
She was my water, substantial to my being.
As the years passed, our special bond thrived.
I was her and she was me, together we were one.
Until one doleful day, she was not there for me.
I was miserable and dejected, lonely and rejected.
A famished cat abandoned in the lightless alley,
A parched flower without sun or water,
Enveloped by darkness, left to die.
Without her, I ceased to exist.
I was trapped in an intangible prison
Built securely with my interminable tears,
Where my life had no meaning, no purpose.
Where melancholy would always find me,
Make its home in my heart and squeeze,
Leaving me gasping for air, breathless.
I would attempt to forget my desolation
By closing my heavy, swollen eyes,
But precious sleep would never overcome me.
Instead, I would lie awake and dream of an escape.
One morning, light crept through the cracks of my cell.
I yearned for it to wrap itself around me,
Enliven me and warm my skin and bones.
But darkness still clung to me, it held on tight,
Thrust away the specks of lingering light.
It was pitch black when I began to scream.
I yelled for her, I yelled for her help.
But no one came, and no one ever would.
It was time to let her go.
To let go of the sadness,
That had been haunting me for so long.
I lunged myself at my prison’s wall,
Pummeled it with my fist, again and again.
I hit the wall. There was blood.
From my knuckles, and my broken heart.
I thrashed it again. There was sweat.
I felt it drip rapidly down my face.
I pounded it one last time. There were tears.
Piece by piece the wall began to fall apart.
Light immediately invaded my surroundings,
I lifted my hands toward it, embracing it like an old friend.
I breathed in, I breathed out.
I was finally free. So was she.