The Roses of May

Safe, he’s learned, is a very fragile, relative thing.

I don’t know how to do any of this. I was always broken, and I was always okay with that. I was what I was. Now people are clamoring to see how I’ll fix myself, and I don’t want to fix myself. I shouldn’t have to. If I want to stay broken, isn’t that my choice?

You promised her the world.
She threw it away.

But you’ve cherished her instead, knowing she’s too pure, too innocent to be sullied with such things.

She was too pure. Was too innocent.

’s all innocent beauty, no artifice or vanity; it’s why you love her the way you do.

Brotherhood isn’t the only reason struggling vets cluster. Seeing your own demons reflected back at you, it creates a safe place to just be wounded.

“Socially incompetent doesn’t mean unintelligent.”

We wear our scars, and sometimes the pain is as much fact as memory.

We live with the memories; why do we have to live with the scars as well?”