The Doll

Today I let out words I'd been holding in for far too long. About days when everything was decided for me, the hurt of being ignored, and all the control that was forever called "for your own good." I wrote something called The Puppet, comparing people to marionettes pulled by strings. Those strings are the words people have held over us since childhood: "be obedient," "be sensible," "make us proud." My hands were shaking as I wrote, but when I finished, my heart felt just a little lighter. I just want to tell my future self: you are a person, not a puppet. You have the right to hurt, the right to be unhappy, and the right to say "no." If someday in the future you feel like you can't breathe again, remember to come back and read this. In my twenties, I tried so hard to free myself from those strings.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any similarities are coincidental. Do not imitate.