His spirit walked over me
I stared across the aisle
He turned
My jaw clicked
My stomach churned
My uterus stiffened
My anus flinched
My intestines squished
My skin inflamed
My chest tightened
My eyes twitched
My mind suffocated
My weight fluctuated
My dreams paralysed
My grades deteriorated
My job terminated
My morals slipped
My friends fled
And then he was gone

Jade Cox (she/her) is a public school teacher from Canberra, Australia. She experiences endometriosis, irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, eczema, anxiety, fatigue, and sleep paralysis, and these diagnoses intertwine to create a complex battleground for her health.