Sour Heart

by Jenny Zhang

No broken person in the history of the world had ever wanted to be described that way.

You gotta move past the first layer of sentiment—that’s just reaction, an attempt to circumvent any kind of pain.

Whenever I’m home for a few days, I start to feel this despair at being back in the place where I had spent so many afternoons dreaming of getting away, so many late nights fantasizing about who I would be once I was allowed to be someone apart from my family,

Being someone is terrifying. I long to come home, but now, I will always come home to my family as a visitor,