I won’t be like him,
A vow made with steadfast determination.
His anger, his screams, his short fuse.
Always walking on eggshells.
I. Won’t. Be. Like. Him.

Psychotherapy couches,
spiritual sojourns,
plunging into self-help books,
journaling away anxieties.
Years of not being him.

Just when I thought I was free of his spell,
a combustion out of nowhere,
unable to control the waves of emotions,
the past came back to haunt me.
Now you are walking on eggshells.