at the age of 10, I was a 25-year-old woman
life is funny in that way
sometimes you have to grow up fast
sometimes a lifetime of experience and stress
is crammed down your throat
before you even learn geometry
I used to look at the other kids
as they traded their pokemon cards
and showed off their silly bands
and I wondered
how is it fair
that they get to drift through childhood
like a dream
when my own
was so violently
ripped away from me