If You Tell a Lie

by Lucinda Berry

Seven seconds. That’s how long it took him to slip his fingers down my pants and change my life forever. Seven seconds. That’s all it took to change your life forever too. My mom always warned me to keep my legs closed and watch out for the predators. But she told me they were out there. She never told me they were at home. Seven seconds. That’s how long it took me to forget and exactly how long it took for me to remember when they told me what you’d done. Seven seconds. That’s all it took to kill you.

Do you know how freeing it was to live in a world where you didn’t give a fuck what people thought about you? Especially as a woman? There’s no better feeling on the planet. At least I haven’t found one yet.

Do you know how much work it takes to pretend like you’re fine every day? To be the sunshine when you’re really the darkness?