The Last Flight

by Julie Clark

Dedicated to all the women who have come forward with their stories. Whether it be in front of a congressional panel on live television or alone in a windowless human resources office—we hear you. We believe you.

“If you pay attention, Claire, solutions always appear. But you have to be brave enough to see them,”

All choices had consequences. It was what you did with those consequences that mattered.

“You know, life is long. Lots of things can go wrong and still end up all right.”

That was the funny thing about regret. It lived inside of you, shrinking down until you could almost believe it had vanished, only to have it spring up, fully formed, called forward by people who meant you no harm.

Are we who we say we are, or do we become the person others see? Do they define us by what we choose to show them, or what they see despite our best attempts to conceal it?

The only way out is through,

When you share your problems with someone else, your load gets lighter.

“It takes a long time to learn how to see the world as a place where people aren’t doing things to you. My husband didn’t set out to break my heart, or Ellie’s. He was just acting on his own desires, living his own story. I hope I’ve become someone who doesn’t get angry when others are just trying to get by. I hope I can be the kind of person who looks toward forgiveness first.”

“I’m not very good at forgiveness.” Liz nodded. “Not many people are. But what I’ve learned in life is that in order for true forgiveness to occur, something has to die first. Your expectations, or your circumstances. Maybe your heart. And that can be painful. But it’s also incredibly liberating.”

we don’t tell our own stories, we’ll never take control of the narrative.

Like many, she’d grown tired of watching powerful men never being held accountable, boys will be boys evolving into an impenetrable armor, shielding them from blame.

We have one thing in common. Each of us is desperate enough to take the risk. To turn our backs on who the world demands we be. It isn’t just what has been done to each of us—by Dex, by Claire’s husband—it’s a system that tells women we are unreliable, and then expendable. That our truths don’t matter when set side by side with a man’s.