Chapter 10 - Jordan Stops SleepingThe bruising never appeared.
The shoulder pain faded.
Jordan’s fear didn’t.
At night he woke convinced someone was standing beside his bed.
At school, every time a teacher raised a ruler, pointer, or even a rolled poster, his body tightened.
Angela found him awake at 2:11 a.m.
“You have school tomorrow.”
“I know.”
She sat beside him.
“You want to stay home?”
Jordan stared at the wall.
“If I stay home, she wins.”
Angela shook her head.
“Healing isn’t a competition.”
That sentence broke him.
Jordan cried harder than he had in the classroom.
He admitted he hated being seen kneeling.
Hated knowing classmates remembered.
Hated the possibility that the first thing people thought when they saw him was victim.
Angela found a trauma counselor.
Jordan resisted.
Then went.
Not because he felt brave.
Because he was tired.
The counselor asked him:
“What would make the classroom memory feel different?”
May you like
Jordan didn’t know.
Not yet.
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