Omniverse Venting Thread

[Jade Harley]

When I was in around the second grade, my twin sister hit me in the head with a rock. Literally. She slugged it like a baseball at me, the thing hit me just at the corner of my eye, towards my hairline, and I went down like a sack of potatoes. We'd been playing pretend, so I don't think she ever really intended to hurt me, but it happened. I ended up getting eleven or so stitches for a gash on the side of my head. I don't remember being questioned about anything else, just that the doctor cleaned the wound and stitched it up. The following summer, or perhaps the next, a boy at a swimming pool intentionally slammed my head against the concrete side of a pool, in the exact same spot as last time. I had to get stitches again. The guy refused to apologize.

Now, years later, I wonder if these two injuries changed me somehow. I remember being... happier? More outgoing? But somewhere around the 3rd and 4th grades, I just closed off from the other kids. I would pick one friend and stick with them for years until they inevitably grew tired of me. I became terrified of speaking to people, would get tears in my eyes from even the slightest bit of social interaction, would get irritated and shaky when around people for too long. I no longer like to be touched anywhere on my body, which is difficult when trying to date. My memory is terrible; one time I dropped my phone in the grass right in front of my feet and forgot it was there instantly. My mom and dad both tell me how I used to be everyone's friend and would just walk right up to people, not afraid at all. I'm on medication for anxiety now, but I think the root of the problem wasn't just that my brain chemistry got out of whack on its own. I don't know, though.