The House I Can’t Escape

Woke in a cold sweat—
heart racing, breath caught in my throat.
Took a full minute
to remember where I was—
not back there,
not in that house,
not under his hands.

But the walls still feel too close,
the air too thick,
my skin too raw from memory.

It was just a dream,
they say.
But how do you wake
from something
that never really ended?

It clings—
a shadow in the morning light,
a bruise I can’t shake.
It was just a dream.
But I still feel him.