Minerva_inwonder
My name is Minerva, but at fifteen, I was just a butterfly. I lived in Genoa, in the heart of Liguria, Northern Italy, surrounded by the scent of fresh focaccia and dreams shared at the back of the classroom with my friend Monica. I believed that good always triumphed, that friendship was a sacred pact, and that the future was an empty horizon as clear as the sea in my city.
Then, a move changed everything. I was uprooted and taken to the Riviera di Levante, to a small village in the province of Genoa. I was thrust into Poggio Ulivo, a tiny world made of curious stares, closed minds, and tribal dynamics. That is where I entered the labyrinth.
This is not a coming-of-age story, but the chronicle of a disappearance. It is the tale of how three years of high school can turn into a silent nightmare of exclusion, fierce competition, and subtle manipulation. At the center of it all is Jasmine: the childhood friend who, instead of being a guiding thread, became the architect of my prison.
At forty, I look back at the invisible scars that psychological bullying left on my skin. I write to give a voice to that girl who could no longer recognize herself in the mirror, dimmed by cruelties that the adult world often dismisses as "just girl stuff".
I tell my truth because, even if the good guys don't always win and evil can be incredibly mundane, reclaiming one's own story is the only way to fly out of the labyrinth once again.