Surviving

*****TRIGGER WARNING: Sexual Abuse/Rape*****

I wrote this several years ago, based on a friend’s account of her near-rape while she was in the military, as an homage to her survival and bravery in fighting back. She’s a survivor of prior rape and also lives with PTSD. It first appeared in Organic Coffee, Haphazardly

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If I could paint a picture…

The colors would all be shades of violence, rage and depression
          stark, bloody reds, midnight blues and black streaks
                    bruised purples, sickly greens

back-grounding

The tense lines of her body
          Blonde hair a halo
               around her furious, bleak face
                    icy blue eyes glaring
Down
          at him
Her slight weight
               Pinning him to her bed

The bed he invaded, unwelcome

His arms restrained
held in place by her rigid, muscular limbs
as she straddles his trunk

Her angry palm flat against his chest
burning     her hatred
                    into his bare flesh

while she holds, with her other hand

                                                     Her Beretta M9

          pressed firmly
                    against his skull.