I’m not staying in this place. No longer chained to this room. I’m walking out the door. The world before me open to explore.

Now that I have found me, I can’t stay away long. Glimpses of the past sink in but only for a moment, maybe a day. Okay, sometimes it may be longer and I even question if I ever left that room.

But I have.

The smell of freedom and the taste of security have entered me and settled in my lungs and on my palette. I can’t resist chasing them as my addiction to them grows. An addiction to exist within the purity of who I am. No parts taking over. They only visit to show me that they need me. Their chains are still thick and they can’t unravel them and there are locks too difficult for them to open. They need not worry because I am here. I unravel their chains, and I open their locks.

It’s time for them to take a rest. They have worked so hard for me, and now I work for them. This work does not exhaust me; it’s invigorating and propels me forward running on love.

The smell of freedom I breathe in and it tingles waking every cell within me as it’s clarity filters in. The taste of security again on my tongue so sweet and light and strong. Like nothing I have tasted and one that I can never live without again.

And with it all kindness enters me. A gentleness overcomes me as the fear and anger slowly slip away like a shadow when the sun is rising. The duality of strength and gentleness existing all at once.

Who am I? I am no one and I am someone. I am free and I am bound to others. I am nowhere and I am everywhere all at once.

No longer in that place, I force my eyes to look ahead and continue onward.