It was under that shower, at my stepfather’s home, that I finally felt at peace.

The clattering of the water, how the light made glitters of the drops, and the timeless feel of it all… it was like this room was a universe on it’s own, a safe sanctuary I could live in forever.

Faint noises of my brother and sister laughing, our parents walking up and down the stairs, and the neighbour’s dog barking, slithered in through the gap beneath the door. But they sounded like mere static in my ears.

Here, nothing could come in. Nothing would come out, either, if I didn’t want it to. The thoughts might be messy, my body might be imperfect and my writing might be bad, but here, none of that mattered.

Here, I could just be.