The Wake-Up Call

by Beth O'Leary

“You can relax. It’s just me.” It’s just me. Like she isn’t fucking everything.

Before this winter, she would just have been proving everything I already felt about myself. But these last few weeks have changed me. I’ve changed me. Now, through the chorus in my head telling me I’m not good enough, there is a small voice saying, Actually . . . I deserve better than this.