To all young people considering returning to a boy who forfeit his right to be called a boyfriend

I have some advice

 

Don’t be sorry and don’t be desperate.

Ask instead what he ever did to deserve you crawling back like an insect when you both know you are stronger and bigger and wiser than he could ever hope to be

 

Don’t lie and don’t make promises.

How dare you even write ‘i love you’ or ‘i’m sorry’ in any of those texts you know you’ll never send, don’t ever sink to sentiment and submission so swiftly again

 

Don’t beg and don’t haggle.

You may be soft, but so is a feather, and even they know when to fly away

Take wing, and so leave him with regret

 

Don’t cry and don’t say things you’ll regret.

In fact, don’t say anything at all

Don’t bother

Don’t waste

hours

days

weeks

wondering why he did it

trying to solve him like a puzzle

allowing him to become an enigma that infects your bones,

labors your breathing,

drowns the oxygen out of your mind

and threatens to destroy you worse than he ever could

 

And finally,

let it go.