25 Comments
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Caroline Beuley's avatar

Absolutely loved this Faith! The image you end on of the water stain is so well-chosen. It perfectly illustrates how she is noticing problems he isn't seeing, and thus it falls on her to do the breaking up. It reminded me so much of my first long-term boyfriend!

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faith zapata's avatar

thank you caroline!! i'm proud of that last bit of imagery so thank you for noticing :,) and i'm both relieved and sorry you can resonate LOL!!! but i suppose it's all a part of being young right

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Caroline Beuley's avatar

totally!! I think everyone has a relationship a little bit like this :) And you should be proud of it — my professors always say to end on an image, and when I read your story I was like yeah they’re definitely right, this really works haha

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mia randolph's avatar

I loved this! While I am currently you, at 22, I wonder what my frontal-lobe-developed self would have to say at the decisions I make now.

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faith zapata's avatar

i'm not developed myself just yet (give me a year) but as i inch closer toward it i can already feel the embarrassment and see clearly all the lack of logic in my decisions in the first few years of my twenties... it's insane

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ella's avatar

this is so great. last line- absolute chills. i love the way you write autofiction!! i’m learning about autofiction in my creative writing class this semester and excited to delve into that.

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faith zapata's avatar

:,)) thank you so much. and that's so exciting!!!! so excited for you to learn more about the genre!!!!

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sarah cucchiara's avatar

this is stunning

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faith zapata's avatar

hey i love you btw!!!!

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Nicole Houck's avatar

faith the water stain comment is going to haunt me how dare you! also you’re incredible as always

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faith zapata's avatar

:,)) thank you so much

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Marie's avatar

Stunning ending.

Loving your voice as an autofiction writer

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faith zapata's avatar

love you :,))))) thank you

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tori's avatar

i will never look at water stains the same way ever again

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faith zapata's avatar

tbh....same (love u)

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star's avatar

this has changed my life. every line felt like it was being thrown at my face and i loved it. unfortunately saw myself and my own life between every line and had revelations i think i might just let accumulate

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faith zapata's avatar

i’m so glad you enjoyed :,) thank you so much

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Shanine Patinio's avatar

For a moment i thought all of this was real. I stopped in between sentences because my eyes were getting teary. the end literally made me lie on my back and look at the ceilings.

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faith zapata's avatar

♥️♥️♥️

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Tor Rose's avatar

the rawness of this…. stunning 💌

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faith zapata's avatar

Thank you :,)

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anna caroline's avatar

absolutely in tears with the beauty you convey with your words! gonna think about that water stain for the rest of my life <3

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faith zapata's avatar

agghhhh thank you anna :,))) 🩷🩷🩷

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Lupe's avatar

The last line is…incredible. I had to listen again to really grasp it wow -

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hannah's avatar

I can't lie I have been rereading this article every single day since I first came across it a month ago. The way you describe a relationship slowly falling apart, people drifting away, the sense of isolation is so so so relatable. I honestly thought I was going insane for feeling like that sometimes whilst being in a loving relationship but now I realise maybe it's an 'eldest daughter thing' as we tend to feel so much more deeply than others haha

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