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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35325
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35325
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

 **If your story takes place over the course of a month, your character is still going to be very much dealing with trauma by the end of it.** Take the RL case of the [Itamar Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itamar_attack): 12-years-old Tamar Fogel came home from a youth outing to find her parents murdered, her baby sister's severed head in the living room, and her 4-years-old brother bleeding out. _Years_ later, she is still very much dealing with the trauma.

At the same time, "dealing" does not mean being catatonic. And having someone to care for, someone to protect, is very helpful in dealing. You can't wallow in the horror of what happened, if you need to be doing things. [Here](https://unitedwithisrael.org/tamar-fogel-speaks-out/) and [here](http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/middle-east/israeli-palestinian-relations/three-years-since-the-fogel-family-massacre-in-itamar-4176) are two follow-up articles about the above-mentioned massacre. Basically, because your story takes place over the course of only one month, **dealing with the trauma would be an aspect of everything that your MC does after the traumatic event.** Whatever he does, it would be informed by what he's jest been through. _How_ you choose to incorporate that element is up to you as a writer.

Original score: 4