Day 26

When we meet tonight, he does not hug me.
I stumble through small talk for awhile- 
it has been too long. There is not enough for me
to say.
I let him speak the most-
it is familiar, like the slow tying of a knot.
I want to cover him in rope burns. 
I think he knows.
It is too tight to untie now.

He asks if I've added any medication since the last time we spoke.
Not because I seem happier, 
but because I am tangled in angry twine.
I seem pissed at the world, he says.
He is right.
He does not know.
If we're being honest, 
I have always been this way-
cutting the ropes slowly at first,
then all at once.