Captured by the Monsters

by R.L. Caulder

I’d always hated the color pink. However, as I grew up and opened my eyes to societal expectations, I realized it wasn’t the color I hated. It was everything that accompanied the stereotype of a female saying they liked pink. That it made us girly, housemakers, and one day mothers. It was “femininity” personified in a color, and I fucking hated it. I hated being boxed into an image that didn’t fit me. I hated being told that I would be an incredible mother and wife one day, even though I was as single as it got. Couldn’t I be more than that? Or was I not enough as I was right now?

Heroes to me aren’t special people who have superpowers. Heroes are the people who just choose to do the right thing, not expecting a reward in return. They make their choices because they wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing that there was something they could’ve done to help and hadn’t acted upon it.