You left before I could tell you that I loved you
Or rather just liked you
I was eight
The feelings were not that serious

You were my first crush
My best friend
The first person my parents harassed me about liking
We played with light sabers in your bedroom
An imaginary world where we were the saviors
I sat through half of a Star Wars movie with you
I did not understand it
I wrote your name in pretzels
You taught me how to do that
And then you left

My mother said
A picture gets destroyed
With an orange streak
When wet and scratched

I do not know what tempted me

The only picture I had
And cherished
Was a picture of us

You are now marked with an orange streak

I was eight, you were nine
Virginia welcomed you while I mourned
Your awkward teenage adolescence
Displayed all over your Facebook page

I missed growing up with you
I missed hanging out at your house
Getting ready for dances
Spending the summer laughing

Now I have stopped staring at the picture
Stopped longing for a time
Where I was never alone

The picture is gone now
I do not know where it is