I woke up and I knew exactly where I was. I was in my room in California. The walls were painted purple and I had twinkling lights strung around the room. Polaroid pictures took up the entire wall and pictures of my friends, past boyfriends, and my family starred at me. This was the room that I had lived in for fifteen years but for some reason the atmosphere was cold and the air was suffocatingly thick. And that’s when I laid eyes on the dark figure in the corner of my room. He was breathing so heavily that I could smell the alcohol radiating off him.
“Julie baby” His rough voice made me jump. I could recognize that voice anywhere.
“Please don’t hurt me” I say in a barely audible voice.
“Hurt you? Oh please Julie, I’m your daddy. I’m only here to give you what you deserve.” He starts to move forward towards me. I instinctively back myself as far into the back corner as I can. I try to scream or run away but I can’t do anything. I feel hot tears stream down my face. He takes his belt off and walks towards me. I look towards where the door would be but it isn’t there. I then look to the other side where my window should be and that isn’t there either. My childhood bedroom was now transformed into a prison. With every step he takes towards me my heart beats faster and I start sweating like I just ran a triathlon. He then towers over me and I lay myself flat against the mattress preparing for my punishment. He raises his arm with the belt in his hand over his head.
“Your mother can’t save you now” he says venomously. Just as his arm is about to come down and the belt is a centimeter away from my body-
I wake up in my bed drenched in sweat being shaken by someone.
“Juliana, it’s okay, you’re okay, wake up” Jakob’s voice hushed in my ear. I took in my surroundings and I was in the small plain white room of Laura’s spare bedroom. My heart was still rapidly beating and I felt like I could not breathe. “Are you okay Juls?” he asked once I calmed down a bit.
“Y-yeah I-I’ll be fine” I said quietly trying to hide the shake in my voice.
Jakob’s voice is low and calming “Don’t worry Juls, I won’t ever let him touch you again”.