A Girl Called Trust: An Allegory About Love And Abuse

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Once upon a time, far, far away, in the Forest of Innocence, there lived a little girl named Trust. She was small and delicate, and she lived with her Guardian, Love, in the Castle of Self-Esteem.

Trust was a special girl, and when she was born, the Keeper of the Castle Gate created protectors for her. These soldiers were called Boundaries, and they were led by the strongest of them all, the Boundary of Self-Respect. Whenever Trust left the safety of the Castle, they followed her while she played in the Forest.

Being the Guardian of Trust, Love had an enormous responsibility, but she was joyful and honoured upon receiving the news that she had been given this duty. Each morning, she walked through the tall, forest trees, along a well-worn path to the clear, bubbling brook and carried its precious Waters of Self-Love back to the Castle to quench Trust’s thirst.

Love would go into the Garden and pick a basketful of fresh Affirmations, upon which Trust would nibble throughout the day. Together, their lives were filled with peace and happiness.

One day, when the two of them were walking through the Forest, Love explained to Trust that when she was old enough, she would be given the Powers of the Magic of Life that would allow her to achieve anything her heart desired. As well, she would become Queen of the Forest of Innocence, and she would rule with a loving King at her side.

“For now,” explained Love, “you have been given the power and responsibility to care for all the animals in the Forest. They are vulnerable and easily wounded or killed by forces Outside the Forest. But you have the power to keep them strong and safe. All you need to do is feed them from your hand every day and they will be well.”

So from that day on, when Trust went to play in the Forest, she would gather nuts, leaves and berries, calling her animal friends to her as she made her way through the trees.

Trust had always loved to play with the rabbits, squirrels, deer and other Forest creatures, and she was thrilled to learn that she was responsible for keeping them well and safe from harm. She loved her task and happily filled her skirts with the foods that sustained her beloved friends.

Yes, life in the Forest of Innocence was perfect.

There was, unbeknownst to Trust, a land Outside and not so far away. It was an evil land, ruled by a horrible man. He was King Violence and his Kingdom was the Land of Abuse. His home was the Castle of Self-Loathing, which was guarded by his soldiers, the Controllers. They were vicious, angry beasts that protected King Violence at all costs. They fed him Power constantly for, without it, King Violence would die.

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They brought him water from the swirling, black, boiling River of Hate. Over the centuries, it had pulled thousands of its victims into its angry depths, sucking the very life out of their lungs and replacing it with its vile waters. And with their torturous deaths, all of their Power was drained from their lifeless bodies, and into the angry waters providing strength for the evil King.

The Land of Abuse was the most terrifying place on earth, filled with poisonous snakes and lizards. There were deep Pits of Abandonment, great Fires of Rage, and dark Caves of Fear and Loneliness. In its Forests of Dead Black Trees, there roamed vicious Beasts of Destruction that devoured anything in their paths.

The sun never dared go there, and the Wind howled constantly, its moans echoing hauntingly, ceaselessly throughout the Land.

The King possessed the Magic Powers of Transformation, which allowed him to make anything appear to be something it was not. But this was not enough for the greedy King. He wanted to possess the Powers of the Magic of Life, for they were far stronger than his own Power, and he envied everything they would bring.

He knew they would belong to the Queen of the Forest of Innocence, so he devised a wicked plan the day he heard of the birth of Trust. Then he waited for the day when she would be old enough for him to act upon it.

As the years passed, he would often peer into his cracked mirror and let out a menacing, horrible laugh as he smiled his evil smile, thinking of his plan.

“Soon, Little One, soon,” he would say to the mirror, as though he were speaking to Trust herself. “The day is almost upon us.” And he would rub his rough, gnarled hands together in anticipation.

Meanwhile, in the Forest of Innocence…

Trust was approaching the day of her Coronation. Though it was still quite some time away, there were many preparations to make. Soon she would be the Queen of the Forest, and all her rightful Powers would be bestowed upon her.

She had grown into a very beautiful young woman, graceful, delicate and sweet. As she grew, so, too, did the Forest. It became greener, thicker, more colourful and fragrant each day that Trust lived there. It was as if the Forest knew the great significance of the coming event and was decorating itself, preparing itself to be worthy of the New Queen’s rule.

King Violence was also well aware that the day was rapidly approaching; he could hardly contain his excitement, for the time had come to begin putting his evil plan into action.

One morning, he stood in front of the mirror, preparing to use his Powers of Transformation.

As he stared into the mirror, the sky grew much darker than its usual dismal grey, the thick, black clouds, rolling and boiling in the ominous skies. Jagged bolts of lightning tore through the sky with deafening cracks of thunder. The Wind whipped through the Land, with a fierceness in its icy blast that made even the mighty Beasts of Destruction quiver.

Suddenly, the Transformation took place. Gone was the hideous King Violence and in his stead, there stood a tall, handsome young man, with an air of dignity and royalty, and with strong, masculine features. The new Prince Charming, dressed in the finest silk and linen, smiled at himself in the mirror as he admired his work.

Prince Charming prepared a proper coach and horses and began his journey to the Forest of Innocence. Once there, he paused for a moment outside its gates, readying himself for the task at hand. His fingers trembled with excitement as ever so slowly, he reached for the golden rings that would pull the gates open.

They creaked and groaned, as it had been some time since they had been used. As they opened wide to Prince Charming, they might as well have been a mother’s arms, welcoming and embracing a long-lost son.

Prince Charming’s eyes grew wide when he saw the beauty of the Forest of Innocence. Hundreds of colourful butterflies floated silently through the air. The brilliance of the sunlight through the trees was almost blinding to the Prince’s eyes; they were unused to its radiance.

There was an explosion of colour in the thousands of unusual flowers, which burst forth from bushes, trees, and the ground. Birds chirped and fluttered in the excitement of this honoured guest’s arrival. The animals timidly poked their heads into the clearing, knowing something important was happening.

Nearby, under a gnarled old oak tree, Trust had just awakened from a nap on a soft bed of leaves and moss. She felt the excitement of her dear little friends and went to investigate. The energy in the Forest was dramatically different; it was almost vibrating and made Trust feel somewhat giddy. Her Boundaries felt it, too, and unsure of what it meant, they followed her closely.

Upon her arrival at the Forest entrance, Trust was met by a dashing young prince, who had eyes that looked deep into her soul, and a flashing smile that made her heart jump and beat faster than it ever had before. She became light-headed and had to sit on the root of a large tree to catch her breath.

Prince Charming was stunned by Trust’s beauty; never had he seen anything like it. He could not wait to possess her. He knew the only way that would happen was to first gain the confidence of Love, and then he would destroy Trust’s Boundaries. “And finally,” he thought to himself, “the girl will be mine.”

Almost immediately after the Prince entered the Forest, Love felt his presence. She hurried to the Gate, anxious to meet the long-awaited visitor. With one look into his beautiful, dark eyes, Love new Trust’s Prince had come.

The Boundaries always took their cues from Love, as she was responsible for Trust. As she appeared to be quite comfortable with this man, even though he had just barely arrived, the Boundaries relaxed their guard and allowed him to venture nearer to Trust.

Evil Hiding in Plain Sight

To ensure his true identity would not be discovered, with a small and unnoticed gesture of his hand, Prince Charming caused a fine mist to slowly begin to fill the Forest, so slowly that Love and Trust did not notice it was happening. But before too long, it was difficult for them to see clearly anymore.

The Prince, Love, and Trust spent many hours together, talking, planning, sharing. At first, the Boundaries were always close at hand, but as Trust felt increasingly safe with the Prince, so did they, and they agreed to venture further away from their charge, at her insistence.

The Prince and Trust spent endless days holding hands, walking through the Forest, and as the days passed, Trust allowed the Boundaries to wander further and further away.

Gently, the Prince would stroke Trust’s hair or face with his fingers. Sometimes, she would carefully take his hands in hers, and kiss them ever so sweetly, expressing her deep love for him. She adored him and adored his loving hands, which caressed her so tenderly.

As Coronation Day drew nearer, Prince Charming knew it was time to move to the next phase of his plan to further ensure his secret would remain his own. He caused a gentle rain to fall, and once again, using his Powers of Transformation, turned the raindrops into Lie-drops.

Soon, the Brook of Self-Love was filled with lies, which Love unknowingly then gave Trust to drink every day.

As well, he transformed the Affirmations into Manipulation and Blame, but in the mist brought by the Prince, neither Love nor Trust noticed the difference. So when Love picked them from the bountiful garden and fed them to Trust, she was unwittingly doing the evil work of King Violence.

Love was participating in the destruction of Trust, and ultimately, in the destruction of the Forest of Innocence. His deception caused Love to destroy everything she had worked so hard to nurture and build.

Each rainfall was harder than the last. The Lie-drops grew bigger, sometimes even so big as to cause damage to the flower petals, or the leaves of the Forest. Eventually, they had become so large as to injure the vulnerable little forest creatures. And finally, even Trust’s delicate body was becoming increasingly covered with bruises.

First Hints of Doubt

Love began to hear Trust complain of feeling sick after eating the “Affirmations,” which neither of them knew had been transformed into Manipulation and Blame. The young girl grew steadily more ill each time Love fed her these destructive meals, yet neither of them understood the connection.

During most of this time, Love remained loyal to the Prince, never guessing that he had any part in the strange goings-on in the Forest. But when she began to notice bruises and marks on Trust’s body and saw how weak and sick Trust had become, she began to suspect the Prince’s involvement.

Love went to Trust with her fears, wondering if she felt the same way. But Trust was reluctant to discuss Love’s concerns. However, in the few words the girl spoke, Love detected the first note of unhappiness ever uttered by Trust.

It broke her heart to hear it. She felt that as a Guardian, she had failed Trust. She was deeply upset that Trust seemed to know something was wrong, yet she was choosing to ignore it.

About this, Love could do nothing.

Prince Charming was quick to pick up on Love’s change of heart. Suddenly, he was filled with fear, which threatened his plans. He became enraged and knew he had to act swiftly, before Love’s suspicion grew or could be confirmed.

He went to the garden to pick some Manipulation and fed it in large quantities to Love, Trust and the Boundaries. He followed it with a large pitcher of Lie-drops from the Brook.

Then, when he had them all completely under his spell, the Boundaries fell asleep for the first time ever, leaving Trust completely open and vulnerable. With that, he whisked her away to the Evil Land of Abuse and locked her in his Castle of Self-Loathing.

Once they arrived in that horrible, dark, terrifying place, Prince Charming stood in front of Trust and smiled. But for the first time, she saw that it was not the warm smile of the man she loved, but rather the satisfied, smug sneer of an evil, menacing stranger.

As she stared at him, she was filled with terror, a feeling from which she had been protected her whole life. Never had she endured anything so threatening. Frightened, isolated, trapped, the young girl was utterly desperate.

As she stared into the Prince’s face, it began to change, slowly twisting and contorting itself into the hideous face of the Evil King Violence. His eyes no longer looked at her with love, only with rage and possession.

Out of her mind with terror, she shrank away from him as slowly, he moved toward her. She had no Boundaries to protect her now, and the King’s Controllers had silently stolen her Power and fed it to him on the way through the Gates. She was stripped of all her defences.

What happened in that Castle of Self-Loathing was more than Trust could bear. The King violated her in a series of the most unspeakable ways imaginable. His hands, which had once touched her so gently and sweetly, now caused her unbelievable pain and humiliation at every level of her being. She felt utterly broken and destroyed.

Over and over again, for what seemed an eternity, the King continued his reign of terror and violence. With each act of cruelty, a tiny part of Trust’s heart turned black, withered and died.

By the time Trust was to have had her Coronation, there was but one small piece of her heart left. If that died, too, so would Trust.

Meanwhile, during Trust’s imprisonment, the entire Forest of Innocence had been destroyed in a raging fire, which left Love horribly disfigured. With Trust gone, the Castle of Self-Esteem had crumbled. The Waters of Self-Love had disappeared, leaving the bed of the Brook dry and barren.

Without Trust to feed them every day, the vulnerable Forest creatures had begun to die, one each day, until there was but one tiny little squirrel remaining alive, though seriously wounded by the Lie-drops.

The Boundaries were lost, roaming aimlessly, trying to remember who and what they were, except for their leader, the Boundary of Self-Respect, who was trying desperately to find Trust. His strength was failing, however, and he knew his time was limited.

Although Trust had not seen the Forest for some time, she could feel its changes in her heart. On what was to be her Coronation Day, Trust sat alone in her room and began to cry. She could not believe her life had turned into this hideous nightmare, or that Love had not been able to protect her, as she was meant to do.

As the girl sat at her dressing table, looking out across the dark, terrifying, desolate Land of Abuse, a teardrop rolled down her cheek and fell on her chest, directly above the one, tiny, remaining living part of her heart.

The Powers of the Magic of Life

Suddenly, she felt something strange and warm in her chest. It was a feeling of Power and a different kind of Power from any she had known before. She had not known that even without the ceremony of her Coronation, she was to be endowed with the Powers of the Magic of Life on that day.

Frightened and not understanding what was happening, her panic grew until suddenly, she recalled Love’s words: “The Powers of the Magic of Life will allow you to achieve whatever your heart desires.”

Realising this, she began to notice a feeling of strength she had never felt before. She began to believe she could escape from this horrible Land. Closing her eyes, she called upon her Boundaries silently and prayed that they would hear.

It was difficult at first; she couldn’t concentrate. But she was persistent and found that the more she tried, the easier it became.

Wandering in the Forest, the Boundary of Self-Respect was suddenly and powerfully struck by a vision of where Trust was. As he focused on the vision, a mighty force pulled him in what he believed was the right direction.

His steps quickened with excitement and a growing feeling of Power. He knew then that they had begun to reconnect.

As he rushed to help Trust, he happened upon the wounded squirrel, lying alongside the path. Carefully, he picked it up and carried it with him, happy to be able to protect at least one tiny, vulnerable creature.

Away the two of them went, in search of the other Boundaries, readying themselves to rescue Trust.

One by one, the Boundaries were found in various states of illness and injury after the turmoil and destruction in the Forest of Innocence. They had been aimlessly wandering, separately, powerless and unfocused.

But once the group had assembled, all of them noticed that their strength began to grow and quickly, their focus became clear.

Once they were together again, they gathered their strength and devised a plan. With clearer heads, it didn’t take long for them to find the Evil Land of Abuse.

At the Gate, a vicious battle with the Controllers ensued. King Violence did his best to destroy the intruders. He was furious that Trust had gained her Power and even more furious to discover that it was far greater than his own.

More threatened than ever before, he stepped up his efforts to take it from her.

It was a vicious, savage battle. The Boundaries and the Controllers ripped and tore at each other. Swords and axes met flesh and bone. For a while, it was difficult to tell who would win.

Suddenly, Trust’s Powers turned the tide and the Boundaries were stronger than they had ever been. Immediately, the Controllers began losing limbs and heads until soon, all of them were dead.

Using the Powers of the Magic of Life, with one final effort Trust gave the Boundary of Self-Respect the strength he needed to plunge a sword into the King’s black, withered heart. In the same instant, the Howling Wind stopped. The Beasts of Destruction died. The River of Hate ceased its deathly churning and grew still.

In the aftermath of the terrible battle, Trust, the Boundaries and the squirrel sat in the overwhelming silence, looking on with horror at the grisly scene before them. Everywhere they looked, there was death; a bloodied Beast, a Controller savagely torn to shreds. King Violence lay nearby, the sword that had pierced his heart, still in his chest as if it were standing, a symbol of victory over the enemy.

As she sat in silence, absorbing the reality of the whole nightmare, Trust knew that she would never again be as she was before meeting Prince Charming.

Gently stroking the squirrel, once again Trust began to cry. The wounded squirrel was even more vulnerable than when Trust had been given the responsibility for its care and safety, but her unwillingness to see the Truth had caused its injury and the deaths of all the other Forest Creatures.

She remembered the day Love had tried to speak of her concern regarding Prince Charming, but Trust had refused to listen. She remembered, too, how she had allowed her Boundaries — her loyal Protectors — to wander away, leaving herself open to the Prince’s destruction.

Overwhelmed with guilt, she had to accept the part she had played in the unfolding of it all.

To remind herself of not only Prince Charming’s actions, but of her own responsibility in the events, she named the squirrel Betrayal. Ever so gently, she kissed the tiny, injured animal. He looked up at her with sad, brown eyes as she held him to her breast, weeping as she begged for forgiveness.

The squirrel looked knowingly into Trust’s eyes, understanding all. Trust knew her actions would be forgiven but not forgotten. Then magically, Betrayal disappeared from Trust’s hands and went to live in the black, withered part of her heart.

As soon as everyone felt strong enough, Trust and her Boundaries began their long journey back to the Forest of Innocence. Upon their arrival, Trust saw, for the first time, the terrible destruction.

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Falling to the ground, she wept bitterly as remorse flooded through every part of her being. The Forest of Innocence was no more. It was but a vast wasteland of smouldering ash, everything burned, black, dry, and dead. Unrecognisable, it would be lost forever.

While absorbed in her painful memories, Trust was startled by a noise behind her. She spun around and gasped in horror.

There stood her once-beautiful Guardian, Love, her face and body dreadfully blistered, red and infected. Wanting desperately to pull Love close to her heart and hold her, she was afraid it would cause her more pain.

Likewise, Love wanted to embrace Trust but she was so seriously injured, she did not want to risk spreading her infection. She would need deeper healing before she could get close to Trust again.

The Healing Begins

The Boundaries looked on at this tragic, painful reunion. Everyone knew there was much healing to be done. And so, they all set out together, slowly walking hand in hand, journeying to the Land of Survivors.

When they arrived, they were welcomed at the Gate by several strong Boundaries. As they entered, they were most surprised to see that everyone there was terribly scarred, some more severely than others. But all of them looked at Trust with the same knowing expression with which Betrayal had gazed at her. There was understanding here. There was compassion.

She was stunned and relieved to learn that she and her dear friends were not alone in their pain and that healing would happen here. And it would begin with forgiving herself.

Soon they were all settled into comfortable rooms in the Castle of Self-Worth. The Boundaries of many wise survivors guarded its Gates. With the shared strength of their new friends, the group knew that together they would heal. Their scars would be reminders of all they had learned; their lessons would not be forgotten.

With the Forest of Innocence destroyed, Trust could never again delight in its beauty. She would lie awake at night and try to recall it in detail, but her memories were lost to her pain.

It was only because of the Powers of the Magic of Life that she could get through each day, knowing that they were helping her to grow and heal. The memory of Betrayal would forever be deep within her heart, but Trust knew that somehow, she would heal and create a new life, a life that she loved and that would allow her to thrive.

Spiritual Arts Mentor and Master Teacher, Liberty Forrest, guides you in discovering who you are, why you’re here, and how to follow that path.

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