The Final Chapter's First Line

Boxes open on the carpet

Ink stains on my fingertips

Every page we swore was flawless

Now it trembles on my lips

All the almosts

All the what-ifs

Crowd the margins in my mind

If I say it

I can’t save it

This is where the plot divides

The final chapter’s first line

Is me learning to be mine

I’m writing in the white space

Leaving you between the lines

The final chapter’s first line

Is me closing both our eyes

And choosing not to turn back

On the page where we survived

Photos curling at the edges

Coffee ring on “happily”

Every promise in past tense now

Every future set free

All the almosts

All the what-ifs

Echo softly

Then they fade

If I read them

I’ll reread them

So I fold them all away

The final chapter’s first line

Is me learning to be mine

I’m writing in the white space

Leaving you between the lines

The final chapter’s first line

Is me saying my goodbye

No epilogue to run to

Just the courage to rewrite

I don’t have to make you perfect (oh)

You don’t have to make me stay

We were never just a story

We were real

And that’s okay

The final chapter’s first line

Is me learning to be mine

I’m writing in the white space

Leaving you between the lines

The final chapter’s first line

Is me stepping into light

If I’m the one who pens this

Then I’m the one who survives