Introduction
Title: Still Haunted by You
It’s late at night, and I’m sitting in the quiet of my room, trying to piece my heart back together. There’s someone lying next to me — kind, gentle, everything a person could ask for — but my thoughts keep drifting somewhere else. To someone else. To you.
I never thought I’d be this kind of person, still caught up in a memory when life is urging me to move on. The one I’m with now is good to me. She listens when I talk, laughs at my jokes, and holds my hand like she means it. But every time she whispers “I love you,” something inside me breaks — because all I hear is your voice, echoing from the past.
I know it’s not fair to compare. I know it’s wrong to look into someone’s eyes and wish they were another’s. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t shake you. I see your shadow in her smile, feel your presence in every silent pause, and crave your warmth in moments that should belong to someone new.
Some nights, I lie awake wondering what might have been. If I had said the right words. If I had held you tighter, listened more, fought harder. Maybe you’d still be here. Maybe I wouldn’t be living this half-hearted life, pretending to be whole while still bleeding from a goodbye that never really ended.
She doesn’t know. She thinks I’ve moved on. She thinks the way I hold her means I’ve healed. But the truth is, every embrace is a battle — between the man I want to be for her, and the man who still aches for you.
Sometimes I look at her and silently beg for forgiveness — not for anything she’s done, but for the way I can’t love her fully. I try. God knows I try. But my heart is stubborn, and love isn’t something you can fake, no matter how much you want to.
If I could change one thing, it wouldn’t be where I am now. It would be who I’m still holding onto. Because the truth is… I wish it was you. I wish it was your laugh echoing through the room. I wish it was your head on my shoulder, your fingers laced in mine. I wish the one lying beside me was the one who still owns my heart.
But wishes don’t change the past. And memories don’t make good company when you’re trying to build a future.
Still… some nights, I close my eyes, and for a fleeting second, I pretend.
And in that moment, it’s you.
Always you.