“Maybe now you’ll learn your place,” my mother-in-law sneered after my husband attacked me while I held our sick baby post-surgery. Weak and trembling, I locked us in the room and dialed one number. Minutes later, heavy boots kicked down the front door, and my husband’s face went pale as my father walked in wearing his general’s uniform and said…

a world of blinding fluorescent lights and the smell of antiseptic, I felt my consciousness slipping.

Stay awake, I commanded myself. If you sleep, they win.

Chapter III: Building the Fortress

I awoke to the rhythmic, synthetic beep of a heart monitor and a deep, localized burning in my core that felt entirely different from the first surgery. It was continue reading …