She stared silently into the distant comforting blackness. The night was her favorite time of day. It was quite, easy, safe….

This poor girl stood there fighting a great battle, though it couldn't be seen by those around her, well if there were people around her that is. She was determined to remain strong, never would she crack, and she simply refused to break. She found a way to hold herself together so far. She was safe now. She didn't have a reason to worry anymore.

But never again would she give her heart to another.

The man, no not a man a monster, had started out kind. He had seemed sweet and caring, and even a little vulnerable when they had started out. Slowly he had begun to show his true, horrid, terrifying face. And as he did so, she in turn slowly became more and more entangled, and trapped in his clutches. Life with him was a fate worse than she had even imagined.

Nights of screaming threats and accusations, days of destruction and tears, life had become a hell. The evidence was all around her. Her home was now in shambles. Their first day in those four walls was filled with the smell of fresh paint and carpet, clean walls and big hopes. Now it was hard to even see it as the same place. Walls dirtied with paint chipped, doors lacking knobs were riddled with holes, furniture was broken, and it was simply a mess. But it still wasn't as horrid as her state of mind.

She had been known as a strong, proud person, full of life and laughs. She believed in herself and did great things when she had set her mind to it. Now he had turned her into an empty, silent shell.

Everyday he made her believe she had caused every wrong, brought about every tear, and told every lie. All too soon she started to take his words to heart and think of them as the truth. How cruel he was.

Not till he began to act out to a point that she truly feared for her safety did she finally start to tap back into her buried strength and see the truth of the prison she had allowed herself to become so trapped in. she had to get out, she had to reclaim her freedom!

'I'm free now,' she thought to herself. 'I'm safe. I can't let him continue to hold me back from people with fear…..'

A mere week had gone by sense her escape, though it seemed like a life time ago. A good friend had given her support through the ordeal from the time they met, to the time she broke away from that dreadful place. He had expressed his care and concern for her as well. She liked him. This was a good man, that had defended and helped protect her in times that she lacked the means to do so herself, but could she be close to him?

Was it a risk worth taking, caring for another again, and so soon? The thought excited and chilled her. Would he stay the same or would he be like the monster and slowly change? Did she have the strength, or will even, to give another person a chance?

She looked to the full moon for any offered answers, though there were none.

'One step at a time then… Just take everything one step at a time. I will not let the past haunt me. I will be strong. I will walk forward.'

With as strong a face as she could muster, and with a new determination in her step, she returned inside, and returned to a life where was safe, she was strong, and she was free.