Goodbye and The Golden State

He watched me pack. He sat beside me while I watched Netflix.
He sat on the toilet, smoothed the shampoo into my hair and rubbed my temples while I lay in a bath.
He stood on the front porch with me, in the darkness of the early morning.
We waited for my mom's car to pull up in front.

He said, "Goodbye."
I didn't turn back.

Once safely in the car, I looked through the back window. Watching him.
I watched him until his dark figure disappeared into that darkness of the early morning.

I made my escape. I was free.

I propped my face against the window and fell asleep.
I slept lightly, waking often, expecting to find him sitting next to me in the back seat.

When the light came, I kept watch for him out my window.
We drove on, surrounded in frost and fog.
Then the mountains, and the sun and the blue
blue sky.

Still, he was nowhere to be found.

We drove into Berkeley as the sun set on the bay.
We rolled the windows down, turned up the music and I took a long, deep breath.

We had arrived. I had made it.

I have had my first day in Berkeley.
I want the sun, I want the bay, I want more.
I want more freedom.
I want more freedom.

Please don't let it be over so soon.