Change, Like Healing, Takes Time.

I Was Still Afraid Of Him, I Knew, But In A Different Way - I Was No Longer A Child, Afraid Of The Threat My Terrifying Father Posed To My Safety. I Was A Man, Afraid Of The Threat He Posed To My Character, To My Future, To My Identity.

I Settle Into Their Pace. The Uniform Pounding Of Feet In My Ears And The Homogeneity Of The People Around Me Makes Me Believe That I Could Choose This. I Could Be Subsumed Into Abnegation’s Hive Mind, Projecting Always Outward.

I Am Selfish. I Am Brave.

I Feel Like Myself, Strong And Weak At Once - Allowed, At Least For A Little While, To Be Both.

Fear," She Says, "is More Powerful Than Pain.