- 10.
Away from Mark, everything was brighter.
Even my editor said, “You seem to be writing
well, Jen.”
“Peaceful” was my pen name.
I wanted my life to be simple.
But some days were hard.
The first time I wore a skirt out, I pulled it
down.
I’d always worn skirts, but Mark would say my
legs were fat.
L
So I wore pants instead.
But now, Ashley smacked my hand. “No, it looks great! Your legs are long and thin.”
Mark didn’t like how slowly I ate.
He told me that I was wasting time.
When I apologized for eating slowly, Ashley looked surprised.
“What are you sorry for? It helps you digest
your food! You don’t need to feel bad!”
I became more confident when Ashley praised
- me.
I started to see myself as a college graduate,
L
beautiful, and kind.
Ashley told me that I was awesome.
The lady at the restaurant told me I looked gloomy when I first moved in. “You never smiled,” she said. “Now you smile all the
time!”
The clouds were lifting, and sunlight shimmered across the ground.
Being confident made the world brighter.
I wrote, I lived, and the pain Mark caused slowly disappeared.
Until I met him again.
