Dear Emily,

You were my rock when I needed you.

You held me through the dark, even when your grip cut deep.

Your love was sharp.

Toxic.

Venomous.

Still, I mistook the pain for care. The poison for ecstasy.

And maybe that’s why I stayed.

But now I ask you to leave me.

Let me purge what we were, so I can become who I was always meant to be.

Yes, it’s goodbye.

But I will always remember you.

—J