Bullied But Not Broken - Tuesday Tales

Ahoy Fellow Fathomers!
For todays' Tuesday Tale I bring to you another WIP entitled Leather, Laces, and Camping By The Sea. This dear to my heart YA novella profiles a young girls' struggle with being bullied and ostracized. I'm only about 5% into this work, it's taking some additional time as the subject matter is more difficult than some of the lighthearted fiction I also pen.
Our prompt for this week is the following picture of a trunk, and I think I captured it well. Please read on to see if you agree...

"I’m the oldest twelve year old you will ever meet. I suppose you could attribute it to the fact I have two older brothers, and my family friends have usually been older than me. However, I also blame it on the fact that I have dealt with issues that thankfully many kids do not ever have to face.

I’ve been horrifically bullied and no one has ever actually laid a hand on me. But, the bruises I harbor on my insides linger like physical scars against my soul. They have yet to begin fading. I still experience trauma almost every school day, reopening healing wounds before they have a chance to cure.

I know that in all reality, this will not stop. I’d be naïve to believe it will. I can only learn personal defense mechanisms to make it through. I’ve decided to fight back, in maybe unconventional ways, and wonder how in the world it will affect me in the future. As I grow up and discover the person I truly am under the thick layers, sometimes, the maturity life forced upon me is astonishing. I’m still here and no one will make me go anywhere I don’t want to-physically, mentally or emotionally. That’s my young mantra, not matter how much it hurts. 

I challenge you to take whatever pains you to multiply that by five days per week, eight hours per day. The mental exhaustion takes a toll as much as anything physical. I feel like a salmon struggling against the current of a flooded river, trying to make my way to safety upstream. Tell me you won’t struggle against the bitterness, hatred, or even maintaining your sanity if you experience what I did.

I keep my secrets in a trunk- notebooks, doodle pads, coloring books-all filled with my deepest enigmas. Join me as I reveal my story and my journey to healing. It started some time ago with this poem:

A View From the Other Side

i feel joy from your pain

i feel happiness where there is your sorrow

i feel love where is your hate

i feel pain from your joy

i feel sorrow from your happiness

i feel all of this because I am a bully"

Now that you've read my interpretation, please visit the http://tuesdaytales1.blogspot.com/ for other depictions of the picture prompt, trunk.