I Was Her Tomorrow

 

A day postpartum,

I slept upon my mother's chest.

I did not know her fears,

I did not know her tears.

I only knew the rhythm of her heart.

"

"I was her tomorrow."

"

My tiny fingers wrapped around her hand,

and she whispered promises

I was too young to understand.

But I believed every one of them.

.

As months passed,

I learned to smile when she smiled,

to laugh when she laughed,

to reach for her whenever I was afraid.

"

"She was my whole world.'

."

I never saw the shadows growing inside her.

I never understood the distance.

I never knew why the warmth began to fade.

.

"I was only a child."

.

Then new footsteps entered our lives.

New voices filled the rooms.

The grown-ups spoke a language

I could not understand-

.

"A language of secrets,

of desires,

of choices."

.

Still, I waited by the door.

Still, I stretched out my arms.

Still, I called for the people

I loved most.

.

"Because children do not know betrayal.

Children only know love."

.

I did not understand why I became invisible.

I did not understand why my place in their hearts

grew smaller and smaller.

.

I was only one and a half years old.

.

The adults chased their dreams.

They fought their battles.

They made their choices.

.

And I paid the price.

.

Now people speak of crime,

of guilt,

of blame,

of who was wrong and who was right.

.

But if you ask me who the victim was-

I was.

.

Not because I lost a future,

but because I lost the people

who were supposed to protect it.

.

A day postpartum,

I was held like a miracle.

.

A year and a half later,

I became a tragedy.

.

And between those two moments

lies a question that will haunt forever:

.

"How did the child who was once someone's entire world

become the one they forgot to save?"