““Dissociation stopped any capacity for her to learn from experience, to foresee, to protect. Abby walked the path of her life unable to recognize or anticipate the quicksand of her abuse, but once there, instinct born of experience took over. Like new babies in a pool of water knowing how to kick and reach for the surface, Abby's impulses helped her swim through the trauma. In the summer after third grade, she knew phonics, cursive, and the multiplication tables as well as silence and compliance in the secret room.””
