Lucy, 17
Nowheresville, USA

You are about to read my story. I don’t mind sharing it because you don’t know who I am. Being totally unfamous has its advantages.

They see
a gymnast
a girl
an athlete
a student

someone quiet
someone average
someone small

They don’t see
so much
They don’t wonder
if every time I flip
my body into the air
doing some crazy trick
someone
somewhere
once did
if maybe I haven’t
lost myself
in this gym
I call
home

I always saw
her as fragile
like a butterfly’s wings
and I was the bat
thick and strong
flying at night

I don’t know when
it happened
but I have become the
fragile one
my wings have no strength
and one little
tear
may render me flightless

each September comes
a little faster
I’m not ready.
my friends
they can’t wait to be seniors
already planning
Homecoming dates and
talking about prom

I need more time.

I feel abnormal
weird even
to be the only one
who wishes for the days to go
slower rather than quicker.

like the
car is speeding up
and I just want to
throw it in reverse.

One sister loves horses
equally happy
mucking a stall
or riding across a field
the farm fits her
as if a photo taken here
must include her.

Another sister loves music
among the rich
she lives her life
far from here
as if this new life started without her.

And me, I’m here
but never really here
standing atop the fenceposts
trying to find my home