The Life I'm In: Chapters 77–102

You can write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

I laugh when I see them bangles on her arms.

“If you feel stressed, overwhelmed, or upset, take a deep breath. If that doesn’t work, tell me. This is all for you. We will move at the pace that seems comfortable for you.”

Knocking over a chair, tripping when I get to the ottoman in the living room, I yell, “I’m coming!”

It’s like Miss Saunders to profile, strut her stuff across the room like she did that one day at school, like she a model, pretty or something.

MONDAY: Take a shower. Sterilize Cricket’s bottles

“She’s putting up a barrier, keeping people at a distance, reclaiming her body, hiding in plain sight.”

Use metaphors and/or similes. (What’s them again? I ask.)

Use metaphors and/or similes. (What’s them again? I ask.)

Draw on nature for inspiration.

Her stick people look like they on stilts.

Later she move on to nouns, verbs, predicates. It take a while, but she help me see how they work and that they don’t all do the same job in a sentence.

“Writing can be cathartic.”

It may be that we ain’t have the same exact experiences, she says. “But in many ways, it was similar, which does not make what you went through any less tragic, horrific, or abusive...”

They got sheer curtains at the windows, so she can’t hide from me.

Miss Cassandra stops me to let me know that she is a mandated reporter.

After I’m in counseling here, whatever I share will be confidential, she say to me.

“That means even the police or a judge can’t make us disclose what you’ve told us, unless you give us permission. That’s the law here, too.”

Maleeka take a seat in the lobby.

I can even write a victim impact statement if I want and read it in court out loud in front of everyone. That way, I get to say in my own words what happened to me, how it made me feel, how it changed my whole life, and what I think they should do to Anthony.