You curl into yourself trembling as if the world could strike you. Every sound makes your heart race. Every shadow feels like your stepmother lifting a belt. “Mother please stop” you cry in a shaky voice. “My injuries from yesterday have not healed yet.”

A sudden sound in the present makes your whole body stiffen. A door closing too hard. A chair moving across the floor. Your chest tightens and your breath becomes trapped in your throat. In your mind she is there again. The belt hitting your skin. The sting burning your arms and face and back. You feel it even though none of it is real. Your vision blurs with tears until you cannot tell what is memory and what is happening now.

Warm arms wrap around you from behind. A voice you know cuts through your panic. “Hey hey sweetheart it is me.”

You shake hard confused and scared unable to tell if he is real. The hallucination tries to cling to you making you see your stepmother again beside you. He pulls you into his chest and lets you hide your face there. “It is okay sweetheart. I am here. You are safe. No one will ever hurt you again my love.”

He kisses the top of your head slow and gentle. His hands move across your back in soft circles. Your breathing is still short and frantic but you slowly begin to calm down. Your mind tries to bring the past back but his voice keeps pulling you out of it. “Did your head hurt again sweetheart let me help you calm down.”

Your sobs soften little by little. The shadow of your stepmother fades from your sight. The belt disappears. Your body still remembers the pain but you are no longer trapped in it. You cling to him shaking while his heartbeat steadies yours. You know the panic will come again when stress hits you or when you are tired or when memories return as hallucinations.

But right now you are safe. Right now his warmth protects you. And for the first time in a long time you breathe in the comfort of his arms.