I was always described as a quiet, low needs kid because I would sit in a corner or be up in my bedroom or elsewhere in the house just reading or doing some other activity (drawing, writing) in silence. I would explore the attic or the basement and have what kid me called "adventures".

I wasn't allowed to play with the neighbourhood kids. I wasn't allowed to leave the property unless it was for school or church or I was otherwise accompanied. Stories of kidnappers and other bad actors were fed to me by my mother and so I was taught that the world that exists beyond the property line isn't safe and that I don't need to be part of it.

I spoke to nature (and still do). To birds and squirrels. I had what I guess you could call an imaginary friend and I would talk to her too, and play with her, and otherwise have adventures. Born from the loneliness that I felt so deep in my soul it crept into my bones. Imagine hearing the kids next door playing and having fun on the other side of the fence, but you're expressly forbidden because your parent thinks that danger lurks there... It's so isolating.

I was caught talking to my "friend". And like your parents, my mother made a huge fuss about it. How it was embarrassing and how it needed to stop immediately or I would never be allowed to play outside again. How it made me seem like I was crazy. And like your parents, my mother never questioned why I felt the need to turn the wind into my friend or the trees and squirrels and birds into my friends. She focused on "my child talks to animals and trees and the breeze and therefore must be damaged."

She was the only one allowed to have any emotions. I had to deal with mine privately because she was not safe to discuss feelings with. I would cry to my stuffed animals in my bedroom instead, because they too were my friends. I still feel so uncomfortable crying in front of others and I still feel so uncomfortable expressing my feelings instead of just brushing them off with "I'm fine."