How to Survive a Horror Story

by Mallory Arnold

Particularly extra-peppy people are always overcompensating for something.

Do you know what a gay man from middle-of-nowhere Arkansas has to endure to escape cow patties and Confederate-flag knitting parties?

He leans into the uneasiness, resisting the urge to clamp his hands over his ears. Feel the fear. Feel the fear.

“Sometimes monsters are the people we love the most.”

“Why in Dolly Parton’s name would that matter?”