by Ashley Jeong
I still open our messages sometimes.
Not to reread everything, just the last few lines. The part where things started to feel different. Where replies got shorter. Where “talk later” slowly turned into nothing at all.
It wasn’t a fight. That would’ve been easier. At least fights have endings you can point to.
This was quieter.
Like watching something fade instead of break. I kept checking my phone for a message that never came. And for a while, I told myself it was just bad timing. Busy schedules. Missed moments.
But eventually, you realize silence is also an answer. The hardest part wasn’t losing the person. It was losing the version of myself that existed when they were there.
About the Author
Ashley writes like she talks, and always thinking too deeply about things like song lyrics.