Listen for the Lie

by Amy Tintera

You can’t make people accept that they have a problem, you know? They have to come to it themselves.

People don’t believe women who fight back. When a man lashes out, people say he’s lost control of his temper or made a terrible mistake. When a woman does it, she’s a psychopath.

“I haven’t told you everything.” My hands are shaking, and she reaches over and clasps them both. “I don’t need you to tell me everything.” She holds my gaze, her dark eyes serious. “I don’t need you to lay out every single secret and detail of your existence for me to judge. I know you.”