Alm

When I was 14, I was hospitalized for being suicidal. My problem was I lived with a family of alcoholics. Funny, I'm the one who was hospitalized.

Anyway, one day I took the opportunity to go off the grounds onto Mount Royal. There were plenty of people walking their dogs, etc. I went to the look-out at the top of the mountain to enjoy some freedom from the hospital blah blah blah. A man approached me and asked directions to a nearby street further down the road. I directed him. He left and ended up following me down the side of the mountain. He jumped me from behind, punched my face and the sides of my head several times, then strangled me way beyond my ability to hold my breath, way beyond my body. I flew through a wild tunnel of my past from crazy angles and then out of the tunnel. It faded into a speck behind me and I was in a white space much like the space I'm typing on right now - only the light was gentle to my eyes like warm water. I was ready to go.

My whole life had been *beeped* up until then. I suddenly became aware of something that I had forgotten to finish and knew I had to come back. The next thing I knew, I was slammed back into my body and forced myself to breathe. I began tearing at my perpetrators face with my nails. His cheeks were all bloody. I screamed to no end and ran back to the hospital. My eyes were bloody and my face was speckled red. I had bruises in my ears and on my throat. The police removed the skin from under my nails.

I stopped going outside.