Where Sleeping Girls Lie

by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

“They say terrible things are done in darkness, but terrible things are also done in a light too blinding for anyone else to look at directly.” —Dear Senthuran, Akwaeke Emezi

The counselor had said that was what trauma could do. It got stuck and replayed memories on a loop sometimes in our minds and other times in our bodies. And it didn’t mean Sade was broken or weak, it just meant that she carried an experience that shaped who she was now. She would learn how to live, in spite of it.