The Change

by Kirsten Miller

How many years—how much energy—had she lost trying to control something that could not be controlled? How long had she feared being outed as female? How much frustration had she endured, inhabiting a world that wasn’t designed for her kind?

God damn

Harriett turned around and gave her a wink. “Tell your classmates they’re welcome to visit me anytime. I’ve always adored children. They’re absolutely delicious.”

“Justice may be relentless, as Franklin says, but she’s also hobbled by rules,” Harriett noted. “That’s why I choose vengeance. She’s the only mistress I serve.”

No one teaches girls how to take care of themselves. We train them to be pretty and kind and polite right before we set them loose in a world filled with wolves. Then we act surprised and horrified when some of them get eaten.

“God may have dictated the Bible, but it was put down on paper by men. And over the years, men have changed things that don’t make them look good. In the original story, Eve was the hero, and this snake was her friend.”