1. Write.
See the girl with the red lips, blue eyes and thick black hair
sitting in the corner of the coffee shop. Notice the way she chews on
the back of her pencil and jots down one word after the other, line
after line for hours. Watch her cry. Look at the way she delicately
folds half torn pieces of paper into the back of her diary, shuts it and
leaves. Look at the way the boy on the next table spends 5 minutes
staring at the lipstick stains on her coffee mug. Do the same.
2. Realise you are shit at it.
You can’t pull off lipstick. It’s all over your teeth. Your hair
isn’t even thick enough to be put into a bun. You spill coffee on your
pages. The eraser on the back of your pencil crumbles into your mouth
and you spit it into your..coffee mug. You don’t know how to look
dreamy. You don’t even know enough words to dream of. The boy sitting
next to you changes his table because you’re too..peppy. You don’t even
have waterproof eyeliner. You look like a mess when you cry.
3. Think.
How to be just like her? How to be mysterious? She had scars on her
wrists and tears in her eyes and the sides of her eyes didn’t crinkle
when she smiled. But you want to be just like her.
4. Find a boy and convince yourself you love him.
He’s skinny, he hates the sunlight and he smokes cigarettes like he
were sucking on a lollipop. Tell him you’re the same. Tell him you hate
the sunlight and put up black curtains. Tell him you love cigarettes and
burn your throat till you can’t talk. Tell him you love him. Tell him
you’ll love him forever and don’t mean a single word you say. Kiss him
like your life depends on it, but you’re a living corpse, don’t you see?
You’re killing the person you once were.
5. Break his heart.
Carve the map of your lipstick stains into his frail anatomy. Rip his
world apart in a single meet and tell him it’s the last time you’ll see
him. Watch him drown his thoughts in alcohol and burn the taste of you
out with nicotine, do not be sorry. You’re just trying to be a writer.
This is your story.
6. Push everyone away.
People will tell you you’re wrong, ignore them. People will tell
you’re mental, ignore them. This is your story, not theirs. This is your
writing, not theirs. You’re the writer, not them. You are your only
god. There is no god you can relate to.
7. Destroy yourself.
Quit your job, fall out of school, vandalise a fucking cop car and do
not be sorry. Drown your tears in mascara and wear your vulnerability
on your sleeve. Frequently, to confront the fire, the firefighters have
to create a fire. Do not forget this.
8. Think.
There is nothing left to do. Everyone you were, is dead. Whatever you
knew, you don’t. Everything you had, is gone. All the priorities have
been put into place. Your house is a black sea. Your thoughts, your only
paraphernalia. This is who you were destined to be. You are your own
fucking creator.
9. Realise you’re shit.
You’re back in the coffee shop. The table at the corner is empty. You
reek of misery, pain, and desperation. No one wants to look at you.
Lipstick smeared, hair chopped, cheeks stained, neck bruised, this is
your new reality. Notice the boy on the side table crying, ask him
what’s wrong. Listen to him tell about you how his girlfriend, the girl
with the red lips, blue eyes and thick black hair sitting in the corner
of the coffee shop, used to fold unnoticed suicide letters into the back
of her diary.
10. Write.
This is your fucking masterpiece.