Just Girls

They said it was nothing

“Girls can’t actually hit!”

Slammed doors, muttered insults,

bruises tucked under sleeves

“is love supposed to be this secretive?”

She loved me in ways that left papercuts,

“maybe that’s just her way of love?”

apologies carved into my wrists,

lips stung like warning signs.

“MAYDAY”

“girls can’t really hurt eachother” they’d say,

So I learned to flinch

without reason,

to cry without proof.

telling people led to whispers…mockery,

so I wore my silence like perfume

sweet enough to mask

the reek of fear.

She’d twist my words

until they cracked between her teeth.

Every “I love you”

was a rope, not a refuge.

When I told them,

they laughed.

It’s just drama, girls fight.

As if broken ribs

are less broken

when wrapped in rainbows.

They said:

You’re lucky she’s a girl

imagine if it were a boy.

As if pain needs

a deeper voice

to count.

I still wake,

disoriented.

am I safe?

I shut my eyes again.

Because no one

saves you

from what they refuse

to see.

We were girls.

And girls don’t bleed

the kind of red

they believe.