“Your popularity served me very well. For most of high school I felt awkward, completely out of place. You became my security object. With you by my side, I actually felt like I belonged. In new social situations I would whimper in your shadow and wait for you to make conversation. I was never good about talking about diddles and daddles. The weather? I honestly don’t care. It’s hot, this goddamn place is always hot. A psychologist who once did a personality test on me remarked that I don’t suffer fools gladly. And I don’t.”

Excerpt From: Hiraeth. “Hiraeth Phoenix.”