Runaway

They labeled me a runaway. My family, the police, the media—the people I counted on to expend every effort to find me—they thought I willingly vanished after school one day. They pushed aside their worst fears, fears that had become my new reality: I was kidnapped, locked away, and abused for months on end.

The man who crushed my spirit and used my body for his pleasure each day never answered for his crimes. The monster haunting my mind long after my freedom from his control remains at large, a constant but unknown threat that I responded to in the only way that I could: I left my former life behind, finding peace in solitude and starting over somewhere new.

My internal walls have remained strong, despite my daily battles with the demons still lingering inside me. But a single harrowing event is all it took to bring them crashing down. Amidst their rubble, a man was there to help me. He's a new unknown who frightens me in a different way, making me question whether I need to rebuild the internal walls that have sustained me and provided me a sense of safety.

He makes me want to stop running from the past I can’t change and the family I left behind. He gives me hope that I can overcome my fears and learn to love and trust again.