Diary Entry IV

April 15 23:00

Dear Diary,

I don't speak. In fact, I should say I can't speak. Dr. Greene used to sit across from me, his eyes filled with a mixture of patience and frustration as he tried to coax words from my silent lips. He would ask gentle questions, his voice a steady stream of calm and reassurance, but I could never respond. It's not that I don't want to; it's that I physically can't. The words are trapped, stuck in my throat like a ball of thorns, and every time I try to force them out, they scratch and tear at me until I give up. The memory of speaking, of recounting what happened, sends me spiraling into panic. Once, I nearly had a full-blown panic attack right there in his office, gasping for air, my vision narrowing to a pinpoint of light.