“Time heals all wounds, they say, and you’ve been counting on me to forget what happened. You think the bruises will fade and the wounds will close, not realising you’ve been leaving scars in your wake. I point them out before anyone asks. My friends have seen, but months later they have run out of things to say. It’s cold outside again and the sun hardly ever shows. The pain is still the same. I thought you of all people would understand that feelings don’t change like the seasons. What did you expect? I suppose you never wanted me to return, you only wanted my forgiveness. You wanted to be right. You wanted to say “I told you so”. As the days are flying by, I find myself clinging to the phrase. Time heals all wounds. Maybe. Maybe it will. But I will not forget. Turning away from you, I found something better. Something brighter. Something nobody can take from me. Sometimes you can only grow by walking away and feeling like you were cut in half. Believe me, I am better now. One day I will point out the scars you gave me and I will tell them they’re mine. I will tell them they’re a part of me and they have their stories but the details will be buried so deep, I will not try to unearth them again. And I hope you can do the same. You never needed my forgiveness, after all. You never needed me to forget. You only needed me to grow, and I couldn’t do it holding your hand. I think you know that now.”— “time heals all wounds”, they say / n.j.