You stole ten years of my life from me. You took friends, you took opportunities, you stole my ability to make the grades I wanted and the life I wanted to live. I’ve been functioning when you decide it is right for me to. My hopes and dreams are suddenly crushed by your inability to let me follow them. You and your cruelness. Allowing me to believe that I can make my own decisions and follow my dreams but there you are with a collar around my neck, giving just enough space between us - waiting to pull me back. The tears I’ve cried, my silent body with a screaming mind. The thousands of dollars I’ve paid to try and manage something that you caused. You walked in and planted yourself in my brain, not allowing me to cut you from the root. You’re like a weed, every time I cut you down you just grow back in the same place.

“...my silent body with a screaming mind…”

I’m crippled by my want to succeed and the actions I am forbidden from making. Your rules, your laws, what you think is best for me. Stay inside, don’t text back, you don’t want to pick up the phone right now. Push away your family, push away your friends. Hate your body, hate your essence. Abandon everything that makes up yourself until you look in the mirror and hate your reflection. The routines I’ve tried in order to break out of your grasp, the medication I take to dull your voice, and yet I can always feel a whisper of you in the corner. I am a puppet and you are my puppeteer, nobody can feel you - only I. The one who is shamed for your actions. The one who has to take the brunt of your poor decisions. You’ve stolen ten fucking years of my life. It’s time I steal them back. You’ll have to kill me before I allow you to control my life anymore.