The Problem with Forever

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

For everyone who is still finding their voice and to those who have found theirs.

Don’t make a sound.

Anxiety circled like a viper waiting to attack with its crippling venom. Pressure closed my throat, a steel vise squeezing until it eked every last breath out of me. An icy burn crawled up the back of my neck and then splashed across the base of my skull. My next breath hitched, and I felt it—the flash-flood feeling of losing all control. Breathe. I needed to breathe.

Words were not the enemy or the monster under my bed, but they held such power over me. They were like the ghost of a loved one, forever haunting me.

People can say crap. They can think whatever they want, but you control how you feel about it.”