“Trauma is personal. It does not disappear if it is not validated. When it is ignored or invalidated the silent screams continue internally heard only by the one held captive. When someone enters the pain and hears the screams healing can begin.”
― Danielle Bernock, Emerging With Wings: A True Story of Lies, Pain, And The LOVE that Heals

“I am alive, and drunk on sunlight.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Storm of Swords

“Trauma is personal. It does not disappear if it is not validated. When it is ignored or invalidated the silent screams continue internally heard only by the one held captive.”
― Danielle Bernock, Emerging With Wings: A True Story of Lies, Pain, And The LOVE that Heals

“We’re all captives of something, even things we don’t want to admit to.”
― Raven Kennedy, Glint

“She put her tongue out and felt the raw edges of the torn silk. She looped her tongue around them and drew them into her teeth. Just a little bit, she thought, that's all I need to free my eyelids. She pulled the tasteless web between her teeth and ground, pulling her jaw down in a grimace - it felt as it she was eating the very skin off her face. But the silk over her eyelids shifted.”
― Stephen M. Irwin, The Dead Path

“Hannah expected this to make her sob even more, but instead she found her tears drying up and her tummy growing warm. How dare they? How dare they do this to little girls? She understood now why her parents go so angry when they saw the result of bombers in the white hot streets of the Middle East, why men and women wailed in anger as well as grief as they lifted the limp bodies of children from the rubble. How dare they? No, she wasn't going to die like this, wrapped up like some helpless baby.”
― Stephen M. Irwin, The Dead Path

“Every wall that I build to lock the world out is yet another wall that I’ve built that locks me in. And in the most heinous kind of imprisonment imaginable, I find that I have become both warden and inmate.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Dreams are ideas where the collar has been removed and the leash has been thrown away.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“When you are captive between what is real and what should be, attempt an escape to real; should be is a mirage that does not exist.”
― RJ Intindola – (Gandolfo) – 1995

“For the first time, I viewed him as a person. A real human man. Flesh and blood. A man who could now touch me whenever he wanted.”
― Zara J Black, Ruled by Magic

“In a captive environment, why wish for the union? A caged bird remembers no water or food.”
― Habibullah Bulbul

“Not by prayers alone will a captive be freed, but by another man’s prayers matched by his deeds.”
― John Kramer, Blythe

“Placing her palm against the nearby spruce covered in fluffy white snow, Denyse bowed her head knowing the decision being made was one she didn't want to make. She needed Joseph, and so far, he's proved that he'll be there to make sure no one else got hurt.”
― Sarah Stein, Captive

“One of the worst cases of employee abuse that I witnessed in the workplace was a toxic manager holding employees captive in a remote location against their will to complete a project that was behind schedule. It was verging on kidnapping the employees.”
― Steven Magee

“I’m Dorian Gray, I’m Dr. Jekyll and I’m Mr. Hyde....
I am Dr. Jekyll trying to separate the darkness from my light. I am Mr. Hyde fighting to be in control not to be controlled. I am Dr. Jekyll held captive by Mr. Hyde.
I am Dr. Jekyll…I am me… just me.”
― Faheemah Isaacs, A Warrior's Heart

“I---" the Beast coughed again. "I hope you like it here."

What?

He hoped she liked it here? Like a guest? What an odd thing to say to a prisoner.”
― Liz Braswell, As Old as Time

“She held out, did not speak directly to her captors except to curse them. She offered no cooperation. There were moments when she did not know why she resisted. What would she be giving up if she answered her captors' questions? What did she have to lose beyond misery, isolation, and silence? Yet she held out.”
― Octavia E. Butler, Dawn

“If you somehow believe that you can free yourself from yourself, you will spend the rest of your life decorating the prison cell that you’ve been living in all of your life.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Your second trial is tomorrow night,' he said neutrally. The gold and silver thread in his black tunic shone in the candlelight. He never wore another colour.

It was like a stone to the head. I'd lost count of the days. 'So?'

'It could be your last,' he said, and leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms.

'If you're taunting me into playing another game of yours, you're wasting your breath.'

'Aren't you going to beg me to give you a night with your beloved?'

'I'll have that night, and all the ones after, when I beat her final task.'

Rhysand shrugged, then flashed a grin as he pushed off the door and stepped toward me. 'I wonder if you were this prickly with Tamlin when you were his captive.'

'He never treated me like a captive- or a slave.'

'No- and how could he? Not with the shame of his father and brothers' brutality always weighing on him, the poor, noble beast.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses

“Maybe it’s not about breaking your shackles at all. Maybe it’s about making you bigger than anything that would ever try to shackle you ever again.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“To free yourself from one cell to immediately rush to the next cell isn’t getting you out of any prison.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“We weren’t just looking at how we could help others; we were looking into our own lives as well. Whenever we were together, we would talk about what was preventing us from from honoring God, what things were keeping us stuck, or holding us captive. They would share portions of God’s Word that gave me clarity on why I had become stuck in certain areas, as well as how God could help me heal and move forward.”
― Michael J Heil, Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose

“My whole body was shivering, but not because I was cold. I'm sure I was trembling like a rabbit in a fox's mouth, right before the finishing bite, but I couldn't help myself.
"Clean this mess up." Apollo's voice came from right over my head, and I resisted the urge to scream and struggle. "Take the girl to an empty suite--- have someone clean her up and examine her."
"Yes, Lord Apollo," two voices echoed at once.
I was pulled back from Apollo's chest while he held my shoulders, keeping my eyes level with his. All I could do was stare into his hypnotizing eyes as he studied me.
"How did you even stay hidden for this long, little mouse?" he murmured.
Then, he leaned in and smelled the nape of my neck, inhaling deeply.”
― Sabrina Blackburry, Dirty Lying Dragons

“My dear, you are a diamond among pebbles. Worth a thousand witches, and yet I see you haven't been handled properly before now. I had better do something about your scent before anyone else detects you."
He leaned into my neck again, and while I stiffened in fear of a bite, all he did was kiss the flesh over my artery. "That will suffice for now.”
― Sabrina Blackburry, Dirty Lying Dragons

“If you taste as good as you smell, I'm afraid you'll have me wrapped around your finger in no time." Apollo inhaled the air by my neck.
"I highly doubt that," I whispered.
He chuckled. Apollo's soft touch was gentle with me as he tilted my head to have better access to my neck. "It will only sting for a moment, my dear."
His fangs pierced my neck and I bit back a scream. They were sharp as they dug into my flesh, pulling painfully at my skin, worse than any cut, any needle that had touched me in all my life.
Thankfully it was over in an instant, and the pain was replaced by a warm sensation. Very warm. It traveled from my neck down into my chest, and from there it flowed down even farther into my...
"Oh you... fucking... cheater," I gasped as I clenched my thighs together. I had completely forgotten why powerful vampires had no problem finding blood supplies. It felt good. Stupidly good. It was the bottom of a top-shelf bottle and the smoothest drug all wrapped in the needy high of sex. It was consuming, pulsing heat.
Apollo drew back for a moment to give me a wicked grin. Swimming, everything was swimming, but I didn't hate it. Not that I didn't want to, but nothing had ever messed with my head in this way before. My own blood reddened his lips, but it was the sexiest thing I had ever seen. "Everything okay, my dear?"
"Go lick a garlic bulb.”
― Sabrina Blackburry, Dirty Lying Dragons

“In my moment of greatest fear, I had inadvertently surrendered my power; subsequently, my autonomy was effectively hijacked and held captive.”
― Jill C. Acton, Blinded Trust: The Au Pair Nightmare

“...if you treat me like a captive or a pawn or if you let anyone else attack me with their pet bird, I will refuse to behave. But it's not because I'm not loyal.”
― Stephanie Garber, A Curse for True Love

“I do understand, and I hope you understand that as long as you treat me like an untrustworthy captive, I will act like one instead of like your wife.”
― Stephanie Garber, A Curse for True Love

“A prison might feel like freedom for those who don’t understand that there’s two sides to every wall.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Let blood seal the freedom of the captive!”
― Andrew Peterson, The Monster in the Hollows