Sunburn: Exclusive American Edition with Additional Material

by Chloe Michelle Howarth

When I was young, I would always go in and say goodnight to her. A big part of me wants to go in and do that now. Instead, I go upstairs and convince myself that she is probably asleep. As much as I like getting older, parts of it make me feel guilty and uncomfortable.

Imagine a place where I could scream and not be heard, and fail and not be seen. A place where my insignificance would not hurt, because everybody would be insignificant.

Outwardly, we are all living the same life, but inwardly, I hope, everybody has as many private crises as I do.

It appears that motherhood is the nearest thing to an inherited career that I can hope for.

A huge smile pushes my teeth through my lips, and my cheeks stutter to stifle it. If somebody passes me now and sees me smiling to myself and they think I’ve gone mad, I won’t care a bit. Actually, I think I’d love for somebody to pass by me now. To walk by and see the mad woman, smiling from ear to ear. Come and see the girl in love!