The Girl He Used to Know

by Tracey Garvis Graves

But I can recall with unbelievable clarity almost everything that happened during the time I spent with Annika. Probably because no one has ever loved me as fiercely and unconditionally as she did.

“Did you ever fall in love with a girl who was different? Not just from any girl you’d ever dated before, but from most people in general?”

It’s funny how the very trait that attracts you to someone is the same trait you can’t stand when you’re untangling yourselves from each other. And not funny ha-ha. Funny like how in the world could you not have seen it?

“Changing how you deal with something is not the same thing as changing who you are as a person.

wondered for just a moment if I would ever feel as attached to a person as I was to the animals. And I wondered how much it would hurt if I was ever the one they had to let go.

My cheeks were pink and my eyes had a brightness I’d never seen in them before. Maybe this was what it felt like to be happy,

All my life, I’d been waiting for someone I could be myself with. It had never occurred to me that I could be that person for someone else.

I couldn’t stop thinking about when he might hold my hand again.

Life isn’t easy for anyone. We all have challenges. We all face adversity. It’s how we overcome it that makes us who we are.”

thought maybe I’d go to sleep and if I never woke up, I wouldn’t have to hurt anymore, and I wouldn’t hurt anyone else.”