I can't believe I'm 31 and still putting pieces together.
Shortly after reporting my stepfather to the police for rape, his father, the man I had called grandpa for a fucking decade, started coming to the burger joint I worked at. I couldn't get a restraining order because he didn't do anything but order a burger and sit at a table directly across from the register and stare at me. He'd leave when he finished his food.
When I told people, their reaction was always "why would he do that? That's so weird." But knowing what I know now, knowing he'd been paying my mother thousands of dollars over the years to keep both of us quiet, knowing he had effectively been paying my mother to let his son use me-
It was just intimidation. Money wasn't keeping me quiet so he wanted to scare me into silence. Wanted me to know he had more power, more resources, more time.
And they did win the court case. And he did scare the shit out of me. So much so that I nearly quit my job.
I was just faulty merchandise to him. God.
me when the disability disables me: oh what the fuck? this sucks. what the hell man!
Skills you shouldn’t have to learn to survive yet child abuse forces you to:
moving around without making any noise
moving around the place without turning on the light
locking/unlocking doors in complete darkness
staying stoic in the face of screaming, threats, and violence
pretense of being calm even if in deep panic
perfect pretense of being fine even in the middle of breakdown
silent crying, crying without making any noise or even tears
doing physical work while crying or injured and not stopping
sensing when someone is angry or stressed because now they’re a danger to you
comforting and calming people down in desperate attemt to lower the amount of danger you’re in
recognizing a person by their footsteps, or a car by the noise it makes when turning to a stop
turning all injustices and anger inwards and making it into self hatred
hiding scars and injuries
expertly making excuses for marks or scars on yourself
dissociating in a second if there’s danger of new trauma
repressing mountains of trauma
surviving emotionally completely on your own
“And I don’t think anybody should feel bad if they get diagnosed with a mental illness, ’cause it’s just information about you that helps you to know how to take better care of yourself.
“Being bipolar, there’s nothing wrong with it. Being bipolar is like not knowing how to swim. It might be embarrassing to tell people, and it might be hard to take you certain places. But they have arm floaties. And if you just take your arm floaties, you can go wherever the hell you want.
“And I know some of you are like, ‘But Taylor, what if people judge me for taking arm floaties?’ Well, those people don’t care if you live or die, so maybe who cares? Maybe fuck those people a little. I don’t know.”
Taylor Tomlinson, Look At You (2022)
Fuck I am so far from okay right now
R.M. Rilke, The Man Watching // Euripides, An Oresteia (trans. Anne Carson) // Oscar Wilde // Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life // @bitsbyt3s // Mary MacLane, "January 20", The Story of Mary MacLane // Trista Mateer // see 4 // @kafk-a // Olivia Laing, "Loneliness: coping with the gap where friends used to be"
I decided to get drunk because I'm my father's daughter and I'm more hungry now so I might have second dinner
I know I'm literally just a trauma dumping blog but I'd just like all the fandom & art accounts I follow to know that they make my life better. Thanks friends. I suck up your good content the way SpongeBob needs water at Sandy's house.
I sit with my grief. I mother it. I hold its small, hot hand. I don’t say, shhh. I don’t say, it is okay. I wait until it is done having feelings. Then we stand and we go wash the dishes.
— Callista Buchen, from “Taking Care,” published in Thrush
“why do you have a gap in your resume” idk why is there a gap in your staff. worry about that
33. she/her. disabled. did & cptsd. sex trafficking survivor. posts might be triggering.
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