To My Better Half,

When I was leaving the only place I knew to be a freshman again, I was terrified. Then again, what kid isn't scared to leave everything and everyone they know behind, and move to a college campus in a different state (Or a few minutes away from home, if that's what fit for you)? I imagined how it would be. How I would meet so many new people, make so many friends, and go everywhere with them! I was wrong. It was never easy for me to make friends, and I'm not sure why I thought that would be different in college, but it was easy with you.

You met my roommate first, and I thought I was going to be left behind, alone, in the crazy, terrifying, murderous jungle that is college (Seriously, I'm pretty sure everything is out to get you in college- at least if you're a freshman). Thankfully, that didn't occur, as we became closer with each passing day. I started to see myself in you, but I couldn't quite figure out why. There were things you had kept hidden, boarded up behind your eyes and locked away as tightly as they could be. You refused to let anyone see how dark your soul had been tainted over the years. You had been hurt too many times before, so you had perfected the art of pretending.

You have continued to be the best person in my life away from home. When I realized how similar we are, I finally felt whole. You have been my rock through everything this first semester. You have been ready to catch every little piece that tears or falls off of my tattered soul, and you have been ready to mend it again. You have stood by my side through all the boy problems, and even all my dumb ideas (Like Wendy's at one am for a week straight...).

I need to thank you. This letter is going out to you, my better half. Through all my dark moments here, you have been the one holding a light to show me my way back. You have been there to shoulder half of my pain, and you have turned my problems around and around in your gentle hands until they were no longer terrifying to my fragile mind. You have welcomed me in slowly to witness your beautiful, dark soul, and you have trusted me. I have come to you at three in the morning when I can't sleep because of the demons running around my mind, and at one in the afternoon when I just needed to sit in a comfortable silence. I know that there is nothing I could tell you that you wouldn't understand, or know how to fix.

I hope that you know that I will always be here to pick up your pieces and put them back together. I may not be much of an artist, but I will try to be one for you. I need you to understand that your mind is not a black hole, but that it is only an overgrown forest. You may not think that you can escape it, but I know you can, and I vow to always help you find a way out. I am aware that you do not believe me when I tell you of your beauty, so I will try to find words that are not overused by everyone else.

In just a short time, you have taught me how to stand up for myself, and to do what is best for my own mind. You have pushed me to do things I never wanted to do, but that you knew I needed to do. You have constantly given me advice, even though you know that I will continue to ignore it, and come crawling back to tell you "You were right..." when my plan backfires on me (and it ALWAYS seems to backfire...). But you never gloat, or bring it up later that you were right. You stand there, listening to me break down, ready to hold up my crying body, have a "cuddle puddle", and listen to music while you tell me that I am better than I give myself credit for.

You are my better half, and I don't know where I would be without you. So, thank you. For being wonderfully imperfect, and hauntingly beautiful. For giving my hectic mind a reason to relax. For doing everything you have done for me, and for standing by my side, always. For being the person I needed to find.

Thank you, for being you.

Love,

Your other half