Reading the time stamp on the tape player that keeps replaying the same 5 months. 

7 years is the amount of time ive known you, and i kept trying to convince myself that i knew you,

you weren't a stranger but when i looked into your eyes i couldn't find you. 

- 4 years, the length of time i spent reliving and replaying every word you tried to ingrain in me, 

convincing me i had an obligation to you. 

- 5 bruises you left on my body, 5 bruises I tried to hide, 5 bruises I made excuses for.

5 bruises because I tried to say "no". 

- 5 months, I spent walking on broken glass afraid of speaking against you.

- 5 months I spent choking on my words, mute to the strength behind yours. 

- 10 moments in 5 months I spent trying to fight your hands off of me , peeling your fingers off of my clothes. 

- 1 moment in 5 months I got away 

- 100 times, I repeated the word "No" as if you never learned it. 

- 1,554 days it took me to realize that there was someone there to love me. 

- 1,554 days it took for me to realize I'm not the 5 bruises you gave me , or the broken glass I had to walk on around you but.. 

I am the most important person in my life and I am standing above you and pressing stop on the tape that replays everything you put me through.

-I 'm destroying the tape that gives you power over me, the tape that holds the evidence and 

I'm recording something new ....