"This Happens To Us All, But This Time It Happened To Me" by Camille Lewis

I tell my therapist that I connected with someone.

No, I mean we really, unequivocally, like, went together, I tell her.

Now they leave me on read, a prickly silence.

It takes me 15 minutes to explain not only what that means

But what an anxiety-inducing affront it is.

She nods knowingly.

It’s happened to us all at one time or another. It’s a part of life.

When she opens her mouth again, my mother's voice comes out: “Hey, I told you not to swat at the wasps if they fly around you. Wasps sting you!”

I want to appear brave, so I swallow hard, taking with it the tears and unsaid words: I know that this happens. I just didn’t know it would hurt this much.