A Ballad of Phantoms and Hope

by K.M. Moronova

If my existence only brings him misery, then I should go.

Heartless assholes aren’t born, you know. They’re trained into it. Their souls have been drained early and thoroughly by the wicked people before them. Hurt people tend to hurt people.

“Who says death is the end of us? We’re here for a reason, are we not? You are still as much alive in spirit as you ever were.”

“Because no one would ever find me here, where the sky kisses the earth, where I was no longer an ailment to others. Here, I was the goddess of the forest—the only person to breathe the cold air and tell the trees my pain.”

“I’m a man who never gets what he wants but smiles anyway.”

Well, I just figure that if I keep smiling, at least people will think I’m happy. It’s better than looking miserable

“They are my take on yearning. You see, the moth is darkness, chasing the butterfly, craving the brightness of it. But when the moth is the one running, the butterfly, being light, chases it in return, unable to exist without the moth, because without darkness there is no light.”

When did we, as humans, become so cold and withdrawn?

“At least when it’s a flesh wound it stays there. It doesn’t sink any further than my fucking bones.

There is no pain greater than feeling left behind. Forgotten.

I think I love those books the most. The ones you can tell were well read and adored, thumbed through like each word was a script, the ones with small notes and underlines—treasures,

What I really want to say is I want to prove that I’m a good person before facing my end.

even if we are stuck on this earth forever, I would find solace in knowing we are together.”