Flaw Salad

You walk into the clinic, and you hope no one saw you. You feel ashamed to be here. This is not a place for someone like you. This is a place for frightened teenagers. You should have outgrown this place, this pathetic uncertainty. But here you are. Your eyes are low, and your voice is… — read more

You whisper from the shadows of each new face. Remember me, remember me. Of course. How could I forget? No matter how far or fast I run, you follow.  Every mistake feels like you again. Every success feels like you again.  I want something new again. This refrain is tired. This story is told. I… — read more

I’ve imagined for 27 years what it might be like to be in this very moment. (That’s an exaggeration, of course—one of those things you say because it sounds romantic and reveals some trivia as inconsequential as your age but fails to account for the fact that as a child at age 6 or 8… — read more

Of course they never believe you, girl. You smile and wave it away. What a laugh. What a joke. What a ridiculous, stupid thing. So they laugh. They dismiss. They smile back to you. You smiling, damn fool. Why would you expect, then, to call them in the throes? When the joke suddenly becomes tragedy?… — read more

Her origin story was message control. It was manipulation. It was saving face. Use these words to get a reaction. Get sympathy, get anger, get away. Half-truths to parents who never really knew her. Untruths to friends. Lies to teachers. Lies to enemies. Little, countless lies scattered throughout her life. Fake authenticity. That was her… — read more