No matter what was said to her, she took it the wrong way. It was an attack. Bad intent. Potentially evil.

Her coworker would say, “Good morning!”, and she’d report her to HR.

Life itself was literally an assault on her emotionally and physically.

So like all creatures, she learned to adapt. To always fight back. To always deflect. To never let anyone or anything in.

She was hard, on the inside and out.

She spent every moment in “fight or flight” to the point that there was nothing left to fight or flight. Everyone and everything had left her.