I’d do it because I wanted that twisting in my belly to tighten and the heat inside me to become a blaze. I’d do it because it was the closest thing to freedom I’d felt: no room for pride, no place for carefully constructed laughter, no fake smiles, no pretending. My attempts to keep up my mask - sarcasm, arguing, disobeying - were quickly falling away, dismantled, piece by piece.
