Heal

Chapter One

My dreams have occurred the same way. A repetition of the same dream for the last decade or so. A dream that has sweat beaded on my forehead and my chest tightening as if I'm being suffocated to death. 𝐴 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐼'𝑚 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑. 𝐼'𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑛. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠... 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑒. 𝐻𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑚𝑒. 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑑𝑜, 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛.

𝐼 𝑠𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑠 𝐼 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑠. 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑦 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑤 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑐ℎ𝑦 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡. 𝐻𝑒'𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑝 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑦 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑝𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑝 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑒, 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑝𝑠𝑒𝑑. 𝐸𝑥ℎ𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔. 𝑀𝑦 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑦. 𝐻𝑒'𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑚𝑒.

𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑝𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑎 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑠𝑖𝑙ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑟.

"Willow! Wake up!" A soft voice said as her body was shoved back and forth softly. Her eyes fluttered open, and immediately sat up. Breathing heavily.
"It's just a bad dream. Arms over your shoulders and take deep breaths." The soothing voice of her younger brother, Noah instructed her.

𝑂𝑛𝑒. 𝑇𝑤𝑜. 𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒. She counted and her breathing finally normalised. "You okay?" Willow asked.
Noah nodded hesitantly. "I should be asking you that."
The older sister sat up on her bed and scanned her room. Dirty laundry scattered around the room. Clothes that weren't her own.
"You don't have to worry about me. Let's get ready for school. You're going to Ma'am Rosa for the weekend." The older instructed.

As soon as Willow stepped out of her bedroom, she immediately regretted doing so. The passage was littered with cigarette bud, used heroine injections and empty beer can and bottles. The stench immediately filling her nose causing her to gag. She shut her bedroom door and tip toed into the kitchen. Careful not to step on any watery substance that lay on the tiled floors of her home.

Calling this place a home made Willow's stomach a bit queasy and left a unsettling pang in her heart. It wasn't a home really. It just a place she grew up in and soon will escape. No home should be filled with drunk men and the traumatizing aftermath of a wild night she wasn't even a part off.