I Gave Away the Birthday Chocolates, Then the Screaming Started

to kill me for the space I finally took up.

I did not forgive them, because forgiveness required a version of them that never existed.

I did not keep hating them either, because hate would have been another way to let them live inside my head.

I removed them the way a surgeon removes a tumor. Completely. Permanently. Without sentiment.

One evening, Brandon continue reading …