Strawberries and Cigarettes ~ {h.s au}

thank you

TW: SLIGHT MENTION OF SEXUAL ASSAULT AND MENTAL HEALTH

I don't even know where to begin.

The story of Harry and Marley started off just for me. It was something I had written in my google docs, simply trying to cope with the traumas of my sexual assault. It was something that no one in the world was ever going to know about, just something for me to do when I was feeling at my lowest.

Because Harry is me... Marley is me.

And when I decided to post the first 10 chapters to Wattpad, I was absolutely terrified thinking that people all over the world could see the parts of myself that I wished so badly would disappear.

For those of you who don't know this, the original plan was always to kill Marley at the end of the book. I created her character completely from myself, taking the things I so badly wanted to die within me and giving them a face. It was a way for me to let go of the past, for me take all of the hurt, all of the pain, and give them a life of their own just to have them disappear for good.

But then something changed.

Because of you all - because of my friends, my therapist - I was able to heal in a way I never thought was imaginable. The way my story has helped so many people, had given me a new hope. One that I knew Marley deserved a chance at having too. She deserved to know that things do get better. That we can make it out alive.

I will never be able to say thank you enough for everything you all have done for me. The amount of love and kindness you all have shown me over the past few months have been absolutely incredible.

Because of this book I have met some of the most amazing people I would have never even known. I found my voice in a way I never thought I could use it before. But most of all, I learned to love myself.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

And those of you who are struggling a battle that no ones know about, to whose who feel as though they aren't strong enough to make it out of bed in the morning, to whose who believe with everything inside of them that they aren't brave enough to make it another day.

Sometimes the best person to prove wrong is yourself, and I will be here every step of the way.

I love you guys so much it hurts.

Thank you reading Strawberries and Cigarettes. Thank for welcoming Marley and Harry into your lives the way they live in mine. Thank you the kind words and amazing support, you're the reason we're here today. Thank you for being apart of this little corner of the world with me.

You all are my moon.

~Lizzy <3