It’s dark and wet. Full of steam and tears and desperation. Sometimes my fingers lose all sensation as I fumble for the keg tap. I’m fourteen, fifteen. I’m sixteen, seventeen. I’m on a field, in someone’s basement, in an old mansion with the parents away, or in the woods of someone’s farm. I’m staring off into another room, knowing he is watching me.
There is a simple science to being beautiful and young. Attracting one only requires convincing him he doesn’t exist to me. Inside, I am a hummingbird of awareness. All he sees is my face, my body, my smile, and my slow strong confidence. I know I’m lovely. I know I’m good at it. I am all powerful.
What strange paths of dark memory. Keeping my feet grounded in the now where authentic confidence and love connect and support all things. I’m out of practice. Visiting those places from before, I haven’t done this more than ten years. The raging pain, loneliness, confusion, and trauma are all mixed in together with normal teen angst and anxiety. Today, I begin clearing out the clutter. Sort through the typical and file it away. Uncover the damage, clean the wounds that still fester, hold tight to the now where all is safe.
Who are these people now? What do they remember?
Only scraps of the most humiliating, flagrant, and rank behaviors of mine are resurfacing. Were there good times? Were there any real connections?
Hovering over the well, staring full force down in to the darkness, knowing it goes to the center of the earth. I’m diving in. I’m falling down. I am immersing myself to reclaim and know. I will scrape away the lingering filth.
What will be left when this is over? I have all I need, now. There are no visions of retribution. There is no blame.
I begin recalling smells, sights, sensations. Pick up a can. Check for carbonation, be sure there are no ashes. Good enough to drink? The haze and tunnel vision, the crowd as a blur, hearing voices, knowing they are talking, but I’m not able to move. Smiling to show I don’t care. Oh, how not caring was the ultimate goal. I see it in young kids these days. I don’t care. You don’t affect me. I am going to show you so clearly that I am unimpressed by you. Perhaps, and likely, I was just as transparent.