Suddenly I'm twelve again standing in front of my mother's bathroom mirror trying to slip bloated eyes under double eyelids. Like thank God I have these white-washed corneas, a clean slate and an opaque one does not remind me that I had been foreign to the human language before I was anything else. I hold her wrists and let our breaths fog up the same glass and guide her fingers until we write out: to be brave is to forgive each other for not killing the monster in our closet. If I braid your hair the right way this time, would you promise me to stomach the courage it takes to call elsewhere a home?
Fifi Wang is a high school student from Taiwan and an incoming freshman at Wellesley College. She has been recognized by the John Locke Institute, Polyphony Lit, Bow Seat, and more.
