Family Heirloom

They said trauma passes through generations until someone is destined to do the work and break the cycle.

But why does it have to be me? I don’t want it.

My grandma left but sometimes I can feel her presence in my room

Telling me to brush it off whenever I weep in the fetal position

The ghost of my paternal grandma also visits me, screaming in my ears that I deserve all of this for what I’ve done in the past

For what a clueless 14-years-old me has done.

Sludge in a gutter over decades

Sedimenting heartache from my great-great-grandma to my mom’s temper

Gravitating towards a girl burdened with the prophecy of feeling it all

Culminating in the agony of my life.

So, with all the sanity left in me, I dragged this cursed suitcase of family heirloom down the ocean cliff

Cracked the code lock

Unpacked it

Threw all of the dirt to the water

Fingers crossed I will never inherit it to anyone.