Dear Girl Who Should Have Lived,

you don't realize how much you mean to me.

i was off in college trying to survive.

and you—my little sister—were trying not to die.

i should have come home more often and i'm sorry i didn't.

i heard what my (ex) boyfriend did to you.

we're apart now.

he's sleeping on the streets, hopefully.

i shouldn't have let my anger towards our parents distance us.

and i'll be forever sorry.

but sorry won't bring you back.

because the life you lived killed you.

i'm like you now, trying not to die.

i should have stopped them,
your wounded sister.