i am not pleasant to you because i have forgiven you, i do not keep my peace because i have forgotten. when you stalk someone, you prove them negligible, make them silent, erase their visibility: there is no boundary that can keep me safe, there is no sentence that will make you understand. i wait for your next harm, i expect your next transgression. i accept you in the public circles of my life because there is no space in which my presence is prized more than yours, there is no world in which my safety is more important than your ego and self-assurance. i will never be believed over you. but do not mistake me not picking this battle for the quiet of a truce.