Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time of my life. In the dark woody past that I visit often, there lived my secret, she is shy, timid and fearful thus she hide in that inner self that the scars and fears had built for her. She is afraid that no one would accept her, of her darkness and the truth that lies in every inch of her. Secret was born from an incident that I wasn't and never expected. An incident that let secret grow.

Secret was lying in bed with her siblings one night. She was already asleep but she woke up because someone had been touching her body. Pretending asleep she move carefully and there she saw who is it. Instead of letting him know that she already notice. She layed herself facing the hard wood of the bed in order to hide her private parts, which got molested by the person she believe would have protected and loved her. The incident did not happened once, twice but every night. It run more than year of suffering, a turture that made secret cry and lost the trust to the people around her. It even got to the extent of seeing things that a 10 years old would not have seen and experience. It broke her into thousand of pieces that any glue or tape can't fix. She is too young, too innocent and too powerless to voice out. Secret remained a secret as what she is defined to be. She was afraid that no one would believed her. She was scared that if she would tell anyone she will be judged and mocked. She remained silent and let her tears be the witness of all her hurtaches and the goddesses be her companion in her daily whisper of protection. But not all secret will remain what they are, sometimes secrets got full, and exhausted over time.

She will became a maiden soon.

She taught that just like any other princess in a fairytale story that became her favorite, she will also became a beautiful and sweet maiden. But then, she is not a princess and her life isn't a fairytale. There will be no prince to save her of the danger that about to come nor kiss her to be awaken by this long and painful nightmare. She needs to protects herself in order to remain standing even with a broken soul, even with a shattered heart and trust. This time she needs to defend herself to the witches that tried to poison her. She need to be brave for her to remain alive, even just alive if happiness would not come near her. Just as the time secret was about to be taken, her courage to fight awaken, her brave soul fought for her. Her own self save her. She fought the best she could and she saved herself. Save from the neighbor witches, the cousin witch, and the evil brother. She was exhausted but she brought out all her strength. She thought that if she failed, at least she tried, and died with small dignity remained in her. Fate in favor her and the goddesses that she always gears her whisper is with her thus she won.

Secret is now free of the excruciating pain of the witches that tried to destroy her, but secret remain in the woody side of the dark forest. She believed that's where she belong, and she embrace the truth. Sometimes though secret expresses herself to the people close to her, rebuilding the trust that was once lost, 14 years ago. Hoping that someday, she will be totally free and come out of the dark forest she've been hiding and would live in the castle that she deserves to have.

It is not just Cinderella, Snowhite or Belle had a once upon a time story, all of us do. Mine is just too scary and became my nightmare that forever hunts me. It was once happened long time ago but became my constant visitor at night. I couldn't forget it because I always see him everyday of my life. I may forgive him but I had my scar already, that was caused by once upon a time story of my life.

Please understand that I don't have full courage to speak in first person thus using secret to tell my story on my behalf.

This article is intended to respond the challenge of @JonicaBradley about freedom through my friend @Aiah_05 and through @Jane inspiring story that I have read. You can also visit them and read their articles, they are good writers too.

Thank you so much.