I walk slowly over to where the frame has landed and bend to pick up the picture. I brush the glass away and straighten up. “You’re so beautiful.” I whisper as I trace the familiar lines of her face. I close my eyes and I swear I can feel her behind me, but when I open them again all I have is this picture. She’s staring at me with that grin pasted on her face and suddenly I feel like she’s laughing at me. I rip my eyes away from her and stalk angrily through my apartment pulling open drawers looking for my scissors. I find them a moment later, but just as I am about to disfigure the brilliance of Dana’s blue eyes, I see another picture staring up at me. This one is the two of us. Bette took it the day that Tina and Angelica came home from the hospital. I drop the scissors and pick up the shiny rectangle and I can feel that moment run through my veins. I can feel the happiness of being there with her that day. The scissors are forgotten as I rummage through the drawer until I find another snapshot of the two of us. We’re laying on the couch in this one. Her eyes are not even on the television, they’re watching me as I play with her hair and again I can feel the comfort of being so close to her. Before I even realize what I am doing I have gathered every picture that I can find of the two of us. I am still in a daze as I slowly examine every picture every detail, and then purposefully I start to tack them to the wall in front of me…

I shake my head and squeeze my eyes closed hoping that I can stop this memory from invading my mind. This is not what I wanted to remember. I wanted to remember what you feel like wrapped around me. I wanted to remember the way that you smell, or the sound of your laugh. I didn’t want to remember that this is the second time that you have put me through this. I didn’t want to be reminded that this is not the first time that you left me.