The Orphanage by the Lake

by Daniel G. Miller

That’s what they want. They want you to run. They want you to be afraid. They want you to quit. They want you to cry.

It’s just that when you used to be better, everything about you feels worse.

The assault doesn’t end when the attack ends. It stays with you, hiding behind every door you open, every corner you turn, even haunting your dreams.

Five seconds of sprinting and I’m winded. Sad.

“I told myself that would never happen again. I would never rely on a man for my livelihood.

But part of being a young woman in an older man’s world is picking your battles, and this is one I won’t win. Sometimes you have to eat shit.

something about him makes me crave having other people around.

“Yeah, I could eat,” I say, trying to give off the vibe that I don’t think about food twenty-four hours a day.

That’s not what I wanted to hear, but if I got upset every time I heard something I didn’t want to hear, I would have left this business a long time ago.

People think that we’re defined by the big moments in our lives: births, deaths, successes, and failures. But I think the little moments matter more because those are the moments that shape your self-perception and who you want to become.

There’s no worse feeling than seeing another woman with something you can’t have.

Sometimes the safest place to hide is in broad daylight.

The life that I wanted has turned into the life I want to escape.

“You can hope for the good times, but it’s the bad times that make you.”

bright enough to lure you in but dark enough to trap you.

I tried to convince her of the error of her ways, but some people are just too far gone.