The Fall Risk

by Abby Jimenez

I always thought of the famous quote: “Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.”

“They’d love me? The girl you’ve known for less than a blink of the eye to a redwood?” “Yes, but we are not trees though. It’s much, much longer for me. And much more important.”

Then we hung up like he was a million miles from here and not just a few easy steps away from my front door.

“Sometimes the start of something good begins during something bad,” he said. “We don’t get to pick when these things happen.”

I was the one who was dangerous.

He didn’t look like a monster. But then monsters rarely do.