Blog post #5 – Story Post

Paralyzed

When most people wake up, they look in the mirror and get ready for the day.  But when your demons tend to stand beside you instead of in your head, mirrors can be a challenge. Anika knew that. She knew what she would find. She knew her thick obsidian hair would be strewn across her head in a rat’s nest fashion. She also knew her dark forest green eyes would be staring right back at her, boring into her soul. But when she looked into that mirror all she could see was the same broken child she once was. The same one that had caused all the scars around her wrists. The one that was alone for six whole years.

See Anika had a sweet childhood once, but she moved schools, and that’s where everything went downhill. It all changed when she met June and Terrence. June and Terrence were twins, and had been the first to greet her on her first day of school. All was well for a year.

But soon it all changed drastically. It was the end of third grade when the jokes started. The jokes about her hair, her nose, her skin, everything.  She learned how to laugh them off for a while, but they really dug deep. As she got older, and the years when on, the physicality of the twins started. And soon it wasn’t only the twins, it was everyone. Every. Single. Person. She. Trusted. But the bruises were easy to hide because of her school uniforms. And in turn her parents would never, ever know.

It was the summer of grade 7 when she started finding peace in causing herself pain. The pain made her mind quiet down for long enough for her to feel something. This continued through the next years until the pandemic hit, then she was truly alone. She had no contact with anyone. Absolutely no one. That’s when it was worst. Then her parents talked about changing schools. And she begged and begged them to let her move. Her parents called the school, and after a few more months of torture, her wish had come through. She was gone.

At the beginning of her school year, she met people. People that made her feel safe and at home. She met people that accepted her for who she was. She still needed time to heal. But this time when Anika woke up she no longer saw the kid that flinched any time anyone tried to raise their hand, but the one that grew up to be confident and love her nose, her hair, and every single thing about herself. She found things she liked, and trained hard to get what she wanted in life. She found out simple how to be herself.

Author’s Note: 

This is a story for everyone. I want this story to encourage people to find themselves and to be comfortable doing it. Self-love is an extremely important factor of all our lives and I hope each and every person finds who they are and are confident in simply being themselves.

Thank you for reading 🙂

by: alexia negrut