The unknown text that flashes on my Nokia 33-something throws my life into an almighty, alternative tangent. Unknown (but I know my aunt) texts “you’re a dirty, disease-spreading . . . ” I pause. “And deserve to die.” I take a long breath to prepare for the next. I know, I wearily know, because it's not the first and it won't ever end. My best friend who wished we’d all get cancer; the excitable school children vomiting at our feet; the awkward, embarrassed strangers with wry, tangy grins. I take a long breath and I grow tough bones and today, I hold your hand.
Michael Pearson is a lifetime mental health-expert-turned-writer who explores the mind and the unknown through academia, fiction, and opinion pieces. Instagram: @michaelpiercewrites