“You are very brave,” Julie says to me
when I relate my story

I shake my head
feeling very unbrave

Julie compels me to look at her
“You single-handedly stopped this guy
from doing any more damage. What if he had gone
to college next year, his record still clean? How many girls
would he have had access to? How many more times
would he have done this before he was caught?
You’re a hero Lucy.”

I shake my head, unwilling to accept a title
that seems too big for me to wear

“Lucy. What happened to you was bad. I know. But God knew
all along that you were strong enough to get through it
and stop the evil. You stopped him. He won’t be able to hurt anyone else.”

I know this much is true

between the original charges and the new charges,
Ethan was in a lot of trouble
all because I talked
and someone came forward
to say my story was true

but all of this
was it heroic?
I was simply dealing with what I had been dealt
in the wrongness of what happened
I wasn’t devoured

maybe
just maybe
I was even saved