This Book Won't Burn

by Samira Ahmed

The cruel act of not being loved back by the person you love the most burns like white-hot phosphorus. Maybe it’s not that there was no love, just not enough. Maybe they loved themselves more than they loved you. They might’ve promised they’d walk through fire for you, and you realized too late that they were the one lighting the match.

“Book banning has long been used to silence those who want to speak out, those who are unwilling to be gaslit into thinking they’re living in the best of all possible worlds.”

“All it takes,” I whisper, more for myself than for him, “is for good people to stay silent and do nothing.”

Sometimes a memory reminds you of who you wish you still were. Sometimes a memory can destroy you.

Weird how life turns out in ways you could never imagine. How sometimes you have to let go of the things—of the people—you were holding on to so tightly.