Daydreams - Night Terrors Sequel

Chapter 3 {DANIELLE}

•Thank you for the the AMAZING cover above that MJgracee made and sent to me on Twitter❤️😭

"I've just come to the acceptance that it's not my fault." One of the girls from my support group explains. "It's none of our faults. Some people are just fucked up and it's no one else's job to carry the burden of believing that."

I smile. She's right. Vile people do vile things and it will never be anyone's fault but their own.

"Exactly." I agree. "I'm really happy you've come to realize and accept that. Thank you for sharing. Does anyone else have anything they want to add?"

A new girl clears her throat and slowly raises her hand. It's only her second meeting with us all, and it's natural to be hesitant about sharing.

"Xiomara, do you want to share something?" I shoot her an encouraging smile.

She fiddles with her nails for a moment and stares at the ground. She's nervous, understandably.

"I guess I just want to know when it goes away?" She peers up at me for a small moment before looking back down. "The memory of unwanted hands on your body?"

I think for a moment, biting the side of my cheek. It's a common question, to which, my answer is always different. Mostly because everyone's process is always different.

"You know, I was actually struggling with that yesterday, even after all these years." I explain before motioning to my hair. "That's why I look like lord Farquad right now."

This earns me a few chuckles, and I let out a small laugh as well. I'll own it, the haircuts terrible.

"I guess the feeling doesn't really go away, you just learn how to take your power back." I smile. "Even if it means chopping all your hair off with rusty kitchen scissors."

Xiomara smiles shyly at me, and I'm not entirely sure that what I've said has made any difference or if I even answered her question well, but at least I've gotten her to smile. She's young, like I was.

The group and I continue talking for a bit longer before we finish up and by that point, I'm starving.

We recently moved our meetings into a new building, so I'm still getting used to the area. I spot a pizzeria place across the street and decide to give it a try.

Upon entering, I note that it's decently busy. I can only hope that means it's going to be good. After scanning the room for a minute I realize the only open seats are at the bar counter. Not my typical spot, but given the time, everywhere's probably this busy. I'll take it.

I weave my way through some people standing around and take one of the empty seats, setting my bag in my lap. I've made the mistake of hanging it on the back of my chair before - safe to say I learned quick from that mistake.