OUT OF PLACE, OUT OF TIME

A memoir of resilience, isolation, and the fight to reclaim life.

For a moment after the slap, everything goes silent.
I taste blood — salt and iron — on my tongue.
Time dissolves into molasses...

He slaps me hard across the face.
Red smears my palm.
The back door slams.
He's gone.

I wipe the blood from the wall.
A faint stain remains.
One day, I’ll be free.

"I won’t be here forever. I am still here."