My friend introduced us, describing her as honest, and like me. I saw it immediately: she was simple, direct, smart, and compassionate, moving without fear of judgment or the weight of society. She is pure innocence.
My friend caught the look on my face and pulled me aside, worried. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I just don’t feel well.”
But my eyes were screaming the truth: “I am a broken man drifting through the dust of the cosmos, while she is a lively star in a distant galaxy”.
I am sorry, but if I let her care for me, if I let her see beneath my exiles, she will begin to fade. I cannot allow my shadows to extinguish her light.
We belong to different worlds. She is too innocent for me, too innocent for this life. It is better that we suffer our own paths, in opposite directions.
She should suffer for her innocence, as she shines away from the reflections of my shattered mirror, one I do not dare to touch.