the people we love

i don't even know you and i let you hurt me.
i didn't know before this moment that your soul was cold and quite possibly all shriveled inside.
you're peeling layers of yourself, shedding skin frantically to stop the screaming of your body, the pull towards something worthy.
maybe it was your hurt.
maybe it was her.
maybe the people we love before never leave. they're walking beside us as memories.
ghosts curiously guiding our steps back to them.
i don't want that anymore.
the crying, the pain, retracing where we've been.
i can't do that again. i can't go there to start over and die.