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BREAKFAST IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE

by | Jan 1, 2024 | ACA And The Arts, ComLine

(Trauma Warning!)


Fourteen years old: 
I’m in bed for the night, 
but still awake. 

Daddy-Monster enters my room. 
I pretend to be asleep. 
He pinches my nose closed with his fingers. 
I open my mouth to breathe. 

He covers my mouth with his hand. 
All breath is blocked. 
I begin to struggle; he exits the room. 
I have never seen him move so fast. 

I lie in bed stunned, and I think: 
This is normal for him. 
This is expected behavior. 
I am not surprised. 


Next morning at breakfast, 
daddy-Monster and I eat together. 
Normally gregarious, he says nothing. 
I dare not bring it up. 

Silence, eerie silence as I eat. 
Powerful and lifeless silence. 
I have no words. 
He has no words. 

Confirmation that he never wanted me. 
My birth disrupted his life. 
My life, meaningless to him. 
My life, extinguishable to him. 

I know that I should be angry, 
but nothing rises within. 
Too numb to be upset. 
Too numb to be scared. 

Detached from my heart, 
I’m a spectator to the threat. 
I quietly finish my breakfast, 
then walk to school. 


I walk the hallways 
and sit in the classrooms 
and open my books 
as if in a trance. 

None of my classmates, 
none of my teachers 
have any clue 
about my reality, 
about the dark silence 
of my existence. 

This event, 
mysterious and chilling, 
I bury deep 
within the catacombs 
of my memory – 
to be locked away 
for decades.

– Healing Heart Warrior

Tom M.

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