Chapter 12: The Fortress
Chapter 12: The Fortress
Following the birth, my father moved me onto the military base. We lived in a beautiful, secure home surrounded by manicured lawns and guarded gates. For the first time in my adult life, I felt truly untouchable.
The military community rallied around me. Wives of other officers brought casseroles, offered to babysit, and treated me not as a victim, but as a survivor. Maya flourished in the peaceful environment.
Every evening, I would sit on the porch with my father, watching the sun dip below the horizon. The nightmares of the apartment still haunted me occasionally, but the heavy, suffocating dread was gone. I was rebuilding my life, brick by brick.
