Minerva_inwonder
It's not a novel. It's my life.
Forget glossy love triangles and scripted teenage drama. This is the true story of how three years of high school can turn into an invisible battlefield, capable of scarring the next twenty years of an existence.
My name is Minerva, but at fifteen, I was just a butterfly. I lived in Genoa, Italy, amidst the scent of focaccia and dreams shared from the back row with my friend Monica. I believed that good always triumphed, that friendship was a sacred pact, and that the future was an open horizon, as clear as the sea of my city.
Then, a move changed everything. I was thrust into Poggio Ulivo-a small-town reality made of curious stares, closed minds, and tribal dynamics. That is where I entered the labyrinth.
This is not a coming-of-age story; it is the chronicle of a disappearance.
At the center of it all is Jasmine: the childhood friend who, instead of being a guiding thread, became the architect of my prison.
Now, at forty, I look back at the invisible scars that psychological bullying left on my skin. I write to give a voice to that girl who could no longer recognize herself in the mirror, dimmed by cruelties that the adult world often dismisses as "just girl stuff."
I tell my truth because, even if the good guys don't always win and evil can be incredibly banal, reclaiming your own story is the only way to fly out of the labyrinth once and for all. I write this as a personal catharsis to heal my own wounds, but also as a testament for anyone currently drowning in silence. This is for those who are being told their pain isn't 'real' enough: I SEE YOU, I WAS YOU, and this is how we break the thread.