Invisible Scars

“Do you know what the worst type of abuse is?”

I glanced over at Soren, “what?”

He smiled, “the worst kind of abuse, do you know it?”

Why are we talking about this? “Physical abuse?” I muttered.

“Nope, emotional abuse.”

I scoffed. The way he said it, like he was so smart for figuring all this out, made me want to punch him. It was a stupid reaction, but he was just so cocky, it annoyed the crap out of me. Again, why are we talking about this?

“Do you know why it’s the worst?”

“Because no one talks about it?”

“Kinda, it's more that it's invisible.”

“Invisible… okay.”

“Think about it, you can see signs of physical abuse and there's no doubt that it occurs. Emotional abuse though is a lot harder to recognize. A lot of people don't know they're being abused like that, and it’s easier to doubt how bad it is because it's so hard to see. It's easy to question whether or not we're overreacting when we can't actually see any bruises. You don't have to guess if someone hit you to know they hit you. Get it?”

I just stared at him because... he was right, but… “Then how do you see them?”

Soren smiled, “By really seeing the person and watching them. Every type of abuse has its signs, you just have to look for them.”

I nodded, “Makes sense.”

“So, do you want to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?”

“Your abuse.”

No. No, I don’t.