In Seven Years

"Suddenly she hated her body, her skin, the very skin in which she lived. She wished for it to stop existing. " Such heavy thoughts and emotions cloud the mind of the ten-year old child, desperate to find an answer to her dilemma and yet, woeful at her inability to find one. She had aged. She still wanted to sit on a swing, but why bother - it would be a fleeting happiness anyway. The swing would eventually come to a halt, she would have to get off, and go- Go where? Go home? ◦◦◦ This is a short story on the earnest search for a miniscule amount of hope by a doctor to keep his patient from giving up and to make her realize that a new beginning is always possible. ◦◦◦ Trigger Warning: This work contains references to violence and abuse and explores themes like trauma.