“Why didn’t you shout? Why??”
Lucy’s friend asked angrily, but Lucy stood there frightened, her mouth shut.
Her friend said,
“You’re impossible…”
“You’re impossible…”
She opened the first-aid box and gently started tending to Lucy’s wounds. Lucy’s eyes were teary with fear, yet she remained silent.
Lucy had accidentally cut her hand while slicing fruit, and it was bleeding heavily.
Concerned, her friend found this behavior unusual. One day, she spoke to a counselor she knew. The counselor said,
“Bring her to me.”
“Bring her to me.”
Lucy met the counselor, who asked about her childhood—and eventually, the real reason surfaced.
Lucy was the eldest daughter in her family. She was forced to grow up too early. She had been taught that toys, new clothes, and even sweets were meant for her younger siblings.
Whenever she needed her mother’s hug or her father’s care, she was told to be strong—even at a very young age.
Gradually, she convinced herself that pain was not hers to express. She should not show it, should not ask for help or love—she had to handle everything alone.
This silent trauma shaped her into who she had become.
The counselor told her,
“It’s trauma, but you can overcome it… Express yourself, ask for care, allow yourself to need love. There’s nothing wrong in that.”
“It’s trauma, but you can overcome it… Express yourself, ask for care, allow yourself to need love. There’s nothing wrong in that.”
Lucy left with teary eyes and asked herself—
“How do I overcome that day when five-year-old me was bleeding from a wound, and my mother said it was nothing… and left me alone in a room? How do I overcome that feeling of being left behind?”
Lucy stood outside, the counselor’s words echoing in her mind. For the first time, she didn’t try to silence her pain.
That night, when her hand throbbed again, she didn’t hide it.
In a trembling voice, she called her friend…
“Can you sit with me for a while?”
“Can you sit with me for a while?”
It was a small step.
But for Lucy, it was the beginning of finally choosing herself.
But for Lucy, it was the beginning of finally choosing herself.