Her Name Was Annie

her name was Annie we were raised together from the cradle...went to the same schools...played all the kids games (yes, even that one) talked and listened to each other...happy and sad for the same reasons...we never really dated, but we did explore each other and learned what life and love was all about from each other...we hated each other's boy/girl friends...she was my best friend ever...the war brought that to an end...she hated me when i left...she ignored us when we came back...wouldn't see us or talk to us...she had cut herself many times to try to free the demons...when she did come to see us...there were no smiles or hugs or kisses... she turned her wrists up the scars crisscrossed for us to see "I have bled myself to set me free from the likes of you and your kind" her words broke an already fragile mind... where to start where to begin the healing process to mend a shattered heart... not many years later she finished what she started and set her demons and herself free from the likes of me and my kind...we stood at a far distance when she was lowered into the ground...her name was Annie...we think of her often...we left not long after to try to lose our own demons...they are still with us...they go where we go...we keep each other company...we live within each other in the same body. i am the caretaker for two who did not survive vietnam. they reside within me...i and these two are "us". they will be within me until i draw my last breath...perhaps at that point we will all find another caretaker or we may decide to seek out others we had to leave behind or who have passed and we will all wander the universe forever.