Triggered

Click

Click

Shots fired

Pow

My earth stood still

Mouth wide open

Nothing

Blinded by haze of the fear I felt

I was transported back to the space my of devastation

Was it the aroma of his cologne?

Was it the inflection in his voice?

Was it the repeated same lines I’ve heard before?

Was it the hesitance in the responses to questions?

What is this twitch I’m feeling in my heart?

I felt the tsunami coming.

I was gasping for air.

My mind was going out of control, because part of me knows what happened was in the past .

Yet at this very second it felt ever present .

It was a mirage in the middle of civilization.

I was searching for my next breath because I was suffocating by this overwhelming sense of I’ve been here before .

I was frantically checking for my pulse .

Was I still breathing?

My ears were numb

Nothing was audible

Muffled

The palms of my hands had transformed into a flooding river of perspiration

I was fixated on the familiarity of what I thought I had escaped . Had it somehow found me?

Wait!

The ransom was paid for my freedom. I cried my last cry and moved on.

What I’m feeling cannot be for real.

Did I somehow subconsciously tuck away the trauma into the inner crevices of my being?

Hold it!

Breathe

Recognize it for what it is.

I was TRIGGERED!