Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash
by Suaznne Hicks
When you couldn’t get a dog so you kept crickets in a jar? You poked holes in the lid so they could breathe, but later found them dead. When you wandered the hallways at school instead of going to recess? Hiding didn’t stop their cruel words from finding you through the phone every night. When you found out you were moving? At your new school you dressed like the others, pretended to like what they liked, and swallowed bile that burned your throat the day everyone slapped that kid’s butt when you took your turn.
Suzanne Hicks is a disabled writer living with multiple sclerosis. Find her on Bluesky @suzannehicks and read more at suzannehickswrites.com.
