Carmen

It’s a complicated thing, memory. Really, no memory is completely true. After something happens, it will never exist again- even on video it’s missing context. By now, there must be so many things that are believed by people who experienced it but aren’t actually true. That’s why, when Carmen’s mom would say, “I don’t remember that,” or, “that never happened,” there was nothing Carmen could do or say.

“I remember!-”

“You remember it wrong.”

“No! No, I was there and I remember-”

“You are just seeing it through your teenage hormones.”

Teenage hormones; the answer given like an excuse but never given the grace of one. It’s teenage hormones- but I’ll punish you for it. There was no other illness like adolescence, Carmen thought. No one ever says, “it’s a cold. But if you cough I’ll beat you for it.” Carmen learned at a young age that even drunkenness is more acceptable.