She went anyway

He held out his hand, asked if she had any questions, and led to the next room where her sister's bed lay. She was scared, she knew that she was about to engage in something she knew was wrong, something she could come to regret.

But she went anyway, full of trepidation, but she went anyway.

He was gentle, genuinely concerned with her well being. But she felt the black tumor growing, slowly blossoming into life. And she knew, she knew that what had happened was wrong, that this was something she was going to regret.

But she went anyway, she let herself be taken in by words she had longed to hear, and she went anyway.

She convinced herself for the next several years that she loved who and what she did not. She convinced herself that this was all there was; the fear, the blackness, the hate. She allowed the violation of her body. She separated her mind and soul from the tainted and withdrew. She had come to regret this decision.

But she went anyway, disgraced and shamed, but she went anyway.

She let it continue. She let him take what he required from her body, further withdrawing into her mind. Closing her eyes and ignoring the tears that threatened to spill and that terrible black tumor that had grown and infected nearly every orifice in her body.

But she went anyway, dying on the inside, but she went anyway.

The she broke the cycle. She stopped believing the lie, the violation, the fear, the hate. She ended it in one sentence, worried about the consequences. She held it in, letting none know about the betrayal, until she found someone she thought worthy. Someone she thought to be trusted.

And she did not go, full of defiance and dignity, and she did not go.