I Can't. You Can't Rewrite The Past.

I Take A Slow Sip Of Lukewarm Coffee, Reopen The Book, And Read The Words Scribbled In Red Ink Near The Top: Everyone Needs An Olly-olly-oxen-free.

I Wanted People To Trust Me, Despite Anything They'd Heard. And More Than That, I Wanted Them To Know Me. Not The Stuff They Thought They Knew About Me. No, The Real Me. I Wanted Them To Get Past The Rumors. To See Beyond The Relationships I Once Had, Or Maybe Still Had But That They Didn't Agree With.

That's Why You Did It. You Wanted Your World To Collapse Around You. You Wanted Everything To Get As Dark As Possible.

Because No, I Didn’t Push Her Away. I Didn’t Add To Her Pain Or Do Anything To Hurt Her. Instead, I Left Her Alone In That Room. The Only Person Who Might’ve Been Able To Reach Out And Save Her From Herself. To Pull Her Back From Wherever She Was Heading. I Did What She Asked And I Left. When I Should Have Stayed.

Teens In The '90s Had The Same Basic Desires As They Do Now.