stories I have collected during my career as an ER nurse. I spent 16 years in the ER and specialized in forensic nursing for most of that time. The memories and experiences are heavy and some continue to torment me. Countless times, people ask me "What is the worst thing you've seen?" I don't have an answer for that. You can scrape someone off the highway and bring them to me. I will try to save their life. I do not lay awake at night and think about horrible injuries or how their lives will change. What haunts me is what humans do to each other. I don't mean gunshot wounds or stabbings either. I mean taking your bare hands and physically hurting others in ways that many of us wouldn't be able to imagine. It is mind-blowing to me that so many are shocked by these stories. Why doesn't the general public have any clue that these things are happening in their own backyard? Why isn't local violent crime reported on your local news? The silence surrounding these crimes screams inside of me, and sometimes that's all I can hear.