Because I Loved Her

I loved her— so I unfollowed her, not because I stopped caring, but because every glimpse of her life reminded me how easily I was erased. I loved her— so I ignored her, because replying meant hoping, and hope was hurting me more than her absence ever did. I loved her— so I stopped talking to her, when my words began to beg for a place I was no longer offered. Yes, I loved her— not the kind of love that clings, but the kind that breaks quietly so the other person never feels the weight of it. Letting her go was not strength. It was survival. I didn’t walk away because love faded. I walked away because it didn’t. So I let her go.