Ten Breaths

One minute.

That’s all it takes.

Sixty seconds between cheerful messages.

One received and read.

Two unopened, unread.

Ten breaths.

That’s the difference

Between having someone in your life and

Sending messages into the void.

You struggle to understand.

How did this happen?

Were there any signs?

Could it have been stopped?

How could so much change in sixty ticks of the clock?

Take a breath.

Take ten breaths.

Maybe it’s inexplicable.

Maybe there are reasons you’re not ready to understand.

Denial.

Keep sending messages.

Surely you’ll receive a reply.

Anger.

How could this happen?

Whose fault is it?

Bargaining.

What can you do?

What would it take to go back to the way it was?

Five stages, but you’re stuck in an endless cycle of three.

Denial, anger, bargaining.

Until one day you unstick.

A breath taken no longer hurts.

You stop counting minutes in groups of ten breaths.

It hurts to think about it.

But you can think of others now.

You can breathe through the pain.

You can smile.

Sometimes you still wonder why.

But why no longer matters.

Because even if someone else isn’t,

You’re still here.