Francesca

Illustration by Cyrill.

With hair like the black holes that stud the sky
and star-studded eyes
She looks at everything with wonder like
Everything is a miracle

She holds developed photographs full
Of laughter and firework nights
That she treasures
That she will always remember

Those slender fingers they praise so much
Pinch the bright blue envelope
The corner creasing as it disappears into her bag and
She promises that it’s because
She doesn’t have enough cash on hand and
Do you really want to deprive her of these pictures
These memories she’ll always treasure?

It’s that sweet eighteen naiveté that makes them think:
‘Even if she steals from them she’ll never steal from me’
Those thin finger that flash across the television screen
Start pinching other things like
Their crystal blue bottle of perfume
The hand painted shirt their mother left them and finally
The lock on the door because the boy she loves doesn’t love her
Back but the fairer one, the newer one
And worse yet—they love him back

Collapsing in on herself like a dying star
Crumpling like a fragmented dream all the
Things she could have been and all the
Things she’ll never be ◆

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Simran Bhakta is an emerging writer from Texas who wants to write something that makes you sigh and think, 'So this is what I've been waiting for'. When she's not writing, she moonlights as a financial analyst and serves on the Adroit Journal's managerial board. Find her on Instagram.