Be Not Far from Me

by Mindy McGinnis

The world is not tame.

“Ashley’s having a National Geographic moment,”

guess we’ve all got our weapons. I might weigh mine before I head out on the trail so that I’m not carrying an ounce more than necessary, and she might keep hers in her bra, but we each get by, in our own way.

Tennessee

No, I’m not freezing and I’m not starving, and I know both these things are true because I’m in pain. When you can’t feel anything is when you need to worry.

I taught them that there’s nothing worse than humans. And while I learned it young myself, I didn’t ever want to have to be the one bearing the message.

it’s the things you don’t do that you regret.

“I was lost,”

Because I knew, every time I left my house for the woods, that it could kill me. I just never believed it would try.

the world is not tame and neither are people, or how I feel about them.