Exodus

Could you live a lie?

It's a ghost town. The place that haunts me. The place that made me. I know that I will never forget Triple Falls and that I will always carry with me everything I experienced here.

I can still smell them all, my summer boys. I gave in to them, even though I sensed danger.

I didn't heed a single warning. I let my feelings and love get the better of me and I let them destroy me. I played my part, even though my eyes were wide open, and I tempted fate until it gave me a hard time.

There was never any escape.

We are all to blame for what happened. We each serve our own sentence. We were careless and reckless. We thought our youth was protecting us and absolving us of our sins, and we all paid the price.

I will no longer pretend that I haven't left the biggest piece of myself in these hills and valleys, among the sea of trees that hide my secrets. That's why I came back. To accept my fate.

And if I am unable to grieve enough to heal during my stay here, I will remain sick. That will be my curse.

I want to be okay with who I am now, no matter how it turns out.

Because I can't live a lie anymore.