"Was"

I remembered - suddenly - what it was like to have you hold me for the first time. My back was pressed against your chest as you cradled me. Your cheek was resting gently against mine. Your arm was encircling me in efforts to protect me from the world, from the darkness, from my pain. I was warm. I was safe.

Was:

a word I truly detest. I tore us apart, overthrew "are," created "am," and destroyed "will be." "To be" ceased existing because of it; "was" simply ate its way through our state of being and left me so very alone.

Just like I was before.