When Mom
opens my door
and catches me
doing squats,
I'm so surprised I
fall from my
squat position
onto my butt and
stare at her,
so shocked
I don't even
cough.
Her fury
when she
finds out
that this is
not some
light exercise
to stay in shape,
but a rigorous
astronaut regimen,
lights so fast
and spreads to
Jeff that I
can't even
move.
I am frozen,
making
eye contact
with a version of
my mom
I have
never seen before—
probably because
I've never
kept something
like this
from her
before.
She asks me
if I am
really
stupid enough
to push myself
this far,
if I know
how dangerous
this is.
The beauty of it
is that
I know
it's dangerous
but I do it
anyway
because I believe
I can.
I tell her
my dreams are not
stupid and that
I can
do whatever
I want with
my body.
I tell her
to get out
of my life.
I have never seen
that look
on her face
before.
For a second,
I wait in
shocked
anticipation.
She doesn't
seem to know
whether to feel
betrayed or
bring
her wrath down
upon me.
Jeff
is actually
the one who
speaks first.
YOU ARE READING
Remember; You Have the Universe
Teen FictionCover by kyromaniak Everyone wants to be different. I just want to be like everybody else. ---- Seventeen-year-old chronically ill Emma has traded dreams of flying into space for, "Support Therapy," aka, "The Dying Kids Group," and Student Council...
