She (A short story)

by Jules Bañares (BSN 1A)

This is the story of She. She is a very jolly and a happy go lucky girl. She likes to smile a lot. It’s her biggest
asset. She also likes to laugh. She has the funniest laugh in the country. For her friends, She is considered as
the happy pill of the group. Whenever someone new meets She, you can tell by the looks on their face that
they’re delighted to meet such person!

“I feel like there’s something missing in me.” She said.

“Like what?” her best friend asked.
“I don’t really know.”

But what people doesn’t know about She, is that She is a suicidal person. She is capable of hurting herself.
She always tends to eat the guilt. She loves her family and friends and the people surrounding her more than
she loves her self. She always gives the greatest love anyone could have. But when it comes to herself, its like
she couldn’t give any, even a quart of it. The good thing about She is that she likes reaching out to people
especially to her bestfriend, until recently, She got suicidal again. She got tired of reaching out. She got tired of
listening to other people until her bestfriend called her to tell her something.

“Do you love me?” her bestfriend asked.

“Of course!” She replied.
“I don’t think so.”
“Why not? Is the love I’m giving not enough? Don’t worry, I-“
“I told you. Love your people the way you love yourself. If you can’t love yourself, then how can you say you
love me?”

And that statement struck She the most. She started to calm down, put the scalpel away from her until she
realized that her best friend is right. She started to calm down and fight all her inner demons away because
She knows that, if she hurt herself, she will hurt her loved ones more, all the happiest moments of her life
poured down like a movie trailer, instead of getting the scalpel again, she stared herself in the mirror,
wondering what went wrong, why she had come to that point in her life.

The following years, She is now a grown-up. She is still the same jolly and happy-go-lucky girl you met years
ago because She is me. I am She.

19 years of existence doesn’t have to do with my journey of loving myself. It took me so much time to realize
the true meaning of love, and it starts with me loving myself the way I love others. Self-love doesn’t necessarily
mean literally loving yourself. It’s about not running away from your demons and facing your flaws because you
accept yourself as someone who is imperfect.