Unknown Caller

by Lisa Unger

“Have you ever lost anyone?” he asks. “Yes,” I answer truthfully. “Does it ever go away? The pain.” I draw in a deep breath, release it. “It changes. You find ways to live with it. Your life grows around it.”

I saw something in you, she told me later. The knowledge. Of life and all its pain, the decision to stick around and do better. That’s what heroism is, you know? It’s not goodness. It’s not bravery. Not just. It’s the courage to keep fighting, keep trying to be a light in the darkness even when you’ve failed at that already.