(I know this doesn't exactly fit the prompt, but I didn't want to pay for free write lmao. this is an abecedarian about self-harm. warning for triggering topics)

Anguish burns through me like a lit candle, as pain relentlessly flows through my veins the surrounding flesh seems to almost melt away into nothingness

Burning does not last forever though, the wick ends and the candle ceases to burn.

...

The tender, loving grip on my hand as my face is cusped brings me back to a different time for but a moment. That loving and caring, yet guided and concerned grasp was the same one my parents had on me when I was a child. When I first learned how to walk, when I hurt myself, when I felt sad. Somehow, over 70 years after the first, most tender hug I've ever received at this very hospital, I lie her...