It's strange to feel so angry over such a fuzzy memory...
Fear, tears, a belt, confusion...
Being told to stop crying when I couldn't stop...
And if I didn't stop I would get more of the same...

I can feel a burning and seething within me...
I can feel pain around my chest, a gnarled tightening, subtly different than pain I've experienced before...
My inner dialogue is full of curse words and me imagining giving the middle finger...
I want to curse and scream how idiotic it all seems to me...

It seems to run parallel to a cause that affects me at my core...
Perhaps one day I'll finally learn how to speak up...
To learn to be unapologetic in my beliefs...

We harm those we don't need to harm because TRADITION DICTATES.
F the NORM!  F YOU!