Dear future, love my past:

I once loved and was loved by the most extraordinary girl. She said cherries tasted like unlived lives passing by and she stayed up much too late looking for Prometheus in a dead man.

Her smile was warm like sun-soaked grass and she had the horrible habit of looking down and walking faster when she met a stranger's eyes. Was she shy or was she afraid of what he might see?

We sat in a pile of browning leaves and shivered when the wind blew and snowflakes kissed our hands like noblemen and she asked if I wanted to go inside and I said no because the cold reminds me that I'm alive.

In the summer I met her family and cried when her brother said he was no one special because I didn't understand how he couldn't see how special he was to her. He was too young to lose his brilliance and I hope she reminds him every day to rekindle his soul because it shines too brightly to be doused.

Years have passed since she gave me the letter and we parted ways and I can't bear to look at her because her soul is blindingly beautiful and I hate myself for pushing her away. She said she didn't deserve my kind words because she was like a week-old plum but even rotten fruit still tastes sweet.

How can you forgive someone who never did wrong by breaking your heart? She lied but in every action was truth, hidden just behind the leaves of the big tree in her backyard where we were going to camp out last summer to watch the stars and trace the fire stolen from the gods.

I once loved and was loved by the most extraordinary girl. She said cherries tasted like unlived lives passing by and now cherries taste like her.