Please note: this piece contains content that some readers may find upsetting.
We never actually met.
I never saw her face
or heard her voice.
We bumped into each other
in this virtual world
became firm stranger-friends
unexpectedly,
bound together by a common
uninvited disease
invading, consuming our bodies,
too long undiscovered,
undisturbed.
Sharing tears
of laughter and darkest fear,
details deeply private
of degrading side effects,
scarring of mind and body, yet
each other’s face, name
unknown, unfamiliar.
Holding each other’s hands
we were pushed along
our medical paths,
disease and medications, trying,
but unable,
to strip us of dignity.
And one day
she was gone.
Stolen.
Abruptly.
Unexpectedly.
From her family.
From her friends.
And from a woman
she never actually met.
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