She was twenty. Not a girl anymore
Well, barely
Legally speaking, she was
Though,
She still felt like the girl
With everything
that had happened;
The tears,
The fear,
The manipulation,
The disrespect,
and apology
  after apathetic apology,
she felt stunted
Broken
Her mind, filled with the echoes of "Cannot" and "Will not."
Biting words, not shouted but sown,
percolated through her every silence.

She had said the words,
not knowing why
Regret blossomed instantaneously
She had given him permission…
but why would he bite?