Call me Alegra

Alegra.

The girls told me to choose a name that is nothing like my real one.

It’s important that she’s different to you, they said. When you’re here, you need to be able to do things that the real you would never do. Whatever happens here, happened to her. Not to you. You need to be able to leave her behind when you get out of here. You need to be able to throw her away, and dust off your hands, and let go of her. She needs to become…. just some girl you once knew.

So that later, you’ll be able to go back to being yourself, and not go crazy.

I don’t know if I’ve done that great on the not-going-crazy part…..