To: 10-year-old me

You'd never admit

but you just want to forget it

Forget the nights where you question everything you've known

Where you question those even living on the other side of the wall, in your own home.

When he flips a table

Don't question your first instinct

Run out of that place as fast as your able.

When you're 8 years old

and he probes and squeezes your body under the guise of medicine

don't do what you're told.

Scream "NO!" at the top of your lungs, even for years, until someone decides to listen.

When he kicks and punches you until you're black and blue

Shout, cry, make a scene

Make him realize that he can never hit a girl, especially when you're nine and he's thirteen.

"He's just a stupid kid", he is, but you are too.

None of these men are the same

These are the top three times in your life where you've felt the most pain.

Forgive them, God knows they need it.

Just never stop running, screaming, or crying, until you see fit.