"We'll start today with your childhood,
where did we leave off on that?"
I blinked, breathed, pondered, replied,
"You mean when I got hit with a bat?"

"Yes. That. The bat. And you...
How did that make you feel?
Explain to me why your childhood friend,
beat you like a baby seal."

"Well, not good," I started off,
"Really ****** to say the least.
That girls dad was a hockey player,
she was basically a ten year old beast.
And as for why, that's an easy one,
she hated me for being me.
Anyone who wasn't her,
was exactly who she wanted to be."

"So she hit you with a bat?"
"Yep. Right over my chest."
"Did you tell anyone about this then?"
"Well, let me tell you the rest..."

I tucked my right foot, under my left,
trying to get comfortable.
The leather always stuck to my thighs,
so moving was painfully audible.

"It was just another day,
and we were all playing outside.
Running about with her toddler sister,
until she fell and cried.
We sent her inside to see her mom,
with a sad little scuffed up knee,
when all of a sudden Steph walked over,
with a bat... headed towards me.

She swung it back and forth,
like a crazy little person.
I tried to run back to my home,
but clearly there was no aversion.

She hit me. More than once.
Chest, back, arm, and thigh.
She hit me over and over again,
and all I could think was 'Why?'
Until finally beaten and bruised,
she let the bat drop.
Noticing the same time she did so,
a red van pulled to a stop.

Her father stepped out,
and he looked angrier than I'd ever seen.
He took one step toward Steph,
and she instantly started to scream.
He smacked her face over and over,
I could hear the distinct slap.
I knew it from the second I saw,
why she had put me in that trap.

You see, her life was ******...
Worse than I ever knew.
She had a father who beat her...
I was nine... What could I do?

So I ran home.
Faster than I knew I could.
I knew I would be safe behind,
a door of solid wood.
A door that had the markings,
of how tall I grew each year.
A door that was put in between,
me and a world of fear."

I squirmed again, with the story told,
and made the leather yell.

"So why is it you didn't tell anyone?"

"Because Doc... It wasn't my story to tell."