Immortalized

I screamed
The pain so acute it caused that
High-pitched scream
It bursted from my lungs
Painful in itself
He didn't listen
Still I tried to make him hear
I struggled to break free
But his hold tightened still further
Next thing, I'm screaming bloody murder
"Stop! No!
LET ME GO!"
He still didn't listen

I ran
The swelling of my left eye
Making it hard to see
Harder still, through the tears that
Threatened to spill
Not now, I thought to myself
The bigger threat was pursuing me
I dialed a number into my phone
"Hello," they answered
One hand around my mouth
To stifle my shout
The other making sure my phone shattered on the ground
No one can hear me...

I hid
The lights were out
Dressed in all black to match the bruises on my arms
My ribs
My hip
My lip
I tried to move quietly
Tiptoe through the room
Silent
Silent

Silent.

And that way I stayed
Silent, always
Around me, people laughed
And conversed
And their smiles shone
But I stayed silent
In my head at all times
Fighting to beat back
The darkness of my past
Willing my mind to move past
Trying hard not to look back

He abused me.

The bruises faded and the scars healed
Nature's way of hiding his evil
Temporary
But the pain of being unheard
From my first scream to my silence
That feels permanent

Black and blue
The painful stains on my body moved
Gliding down my arms
Through to my fingertips
Forever staining the pages of my journal
In black and blue ink

The lesson of this story is that I survived.

And in ink, my story is immortalized.

- J. Christine