Abandoned House by Millie Farley, cont'd

“I miss it. I remember it randomly…at the gas station, galleries, early mornings, more now that I’m here visiting.” You pause and I wait as you gently adjust your bangs and glasses. “I feel…homesick, almost.”
“Of that wreck?” I reply.
“Mhm. I suppose.”
I stay quiet. You sweep your fingertips over the top photo, one of the abandoned living room. A dull pink-red sofa sits in the middle, low ceilings, white walls, soda cans. I stare at it. You pick up on my distaste and say, “It was never a pretty place, but neither were we pretty people, were we? I’ll admit it wasn’t ideal…”
“But it fit,” I finish.
You shuffle the images so that their edges line up and look up at me. “Yes. It did.”

Never Mine by Avalon Fischer cont'd

​I needed not to come home.
It took me too long, to realize 
why I always returned, 
why you made me. 
Why you needed the security 
of my praise to fuel 
your own egotistical superiority. 
Now I am smarter and braver and tougher
and I know
I never wanted to be here
this place you called my home,
this place of ugly torture you fooled me 
to believe it was love.
This isn’t love. 
This isn’t my home.
You are not my home.