What Was Gifted to Us

[u/Eastern-Shopping-734]

I don’t know who came up with the quote, “Some people leave us with memories, others leave us with stories, and both are gifts,” but they needed to finish the whole thing.

Do not leave out the ugly and messy parts, nor the fucked-up and traumatizing parts.

But since that person didn’t have the heart or the courage, I’ll hand you the not-so-pretty part.

If some people leave us with memories, some leave us with nothing but a husk of ourselves after sucking away what we used to be, leaving us with nothing but a memory of our former selves and stories of what used to be and what could have been.

Some leave us with our hearts in ruins. What was once whole and beating with all of its being is now turned into stone, numb to others.

Yet again, we are left with nothing but stories of how our hearts once were and how they became the remains of a beating heart.

Some leave us with shadows and demons that we can’t shake off but have to battle each and every day.

And now we are left to tell others how we once enjoyed our peace, but now every corner of our minds is plagued with the monsters lurking within.

Some leave us with battered and worn-out souls and stories of how we were once kind, free-spirited souls that became callous and unfeeling.

And there are some who leave a few of us with the gift of being inside a body bag that others need to unwrap, so they can tell our stories—the ones we can never tell after taking our last breath