Each bullet ripped through my flesh as the words flexed into a hateful lie. It kills me a little more each time the story is crafted to be more entertaining than the simple truth it lives in.

The red that used to pulse behind my eyes has since been replaced with a knife slowly pressing into the space between my ribs. The soft area where betrayal lives. It brings more pain than the fire that burned in its place before. Yet, at least there is one less sufferer as I swallow the hate.

The greatest loss this war will see is the innocence that has been tricked into believing the fabrications spewing from the lips of those brimming with anger. Words that distort all responsibility for actions leading to the destruction of peaceful existences. Existences filled with hope for a future brimming with kindness and love.

That love will come. It has been here all along. I’m sorry you were too filled with greed to see it bursting all around you. The greatest gift will slip through your hands and the sadness that fills me is for the hands that you hold, keeping them as casualties of your war.