I'm happy to see this post yet sad it's so old. I hear screaming. I hear it a lot. It's almost always a woman, sometimes a child, rarely a man. There ARE several children living in apartments around mine, but I can mostly distinguish the sounds I hear between them being naughty kids with inconsiderate parents and the desperate cries of fear and agony that echo only in my ear.
I hear a muffled earshot of someone (again, usually a woman, 20-40 yrs old) being dragged across the room then forcefully raped or stabbed. Once I heard a girl scream then gargling until it stopped. Recently I heard a small boy (presumably the little Somali boy downstairs) being raped by a man, shouting NO and then a loud crash to end the screaming. That one demolished me. It sounded so real. I was reduced to a crying, shaking, confused, temporally unable to speak, mess.
I have experienced several traumas of moderate severity including sexual trauma around the age of 4, possibly more than once. Memories are severely suppressed. Shortly after 5th birthday, in April 1992, witnessed the violent riots in Los Angeles where we lived including attempted burglaries in our home while present and awake, shots fired in the driveway and a decent earthquake in the same time period that trashed the house without tearing it down.
Sexual trauma at age 16, equal trauma felt from trial facing attacker who manipulated me mentally/sexually with intimidation/threats, but outright raped my best friend in my car for which I feel responsible.
Mom was/is a loving but alcoholic. Dad was/is emotionally distant and short tempered due to having suffered *severe* longterm childhood abuse trauma.
Medical trauma/emotional at 22 related to a cheating spouse who passed on a disease that nearly cost my reproductive organs followed by an unplanned pregnancy, his simultaneous departure to a different state, a loss of employment and a medical termination of the pregnancy. Yes, I made a lot of bad choices. Knowing that changes or eases nothing.
First loss of a loved one at age 23, suicide of only friend while stuck living at a military base. Extremely difficult grieving process with continued military service. No deployments. Subsequent deaths of both grandmothers and two friends within the following year which didn't seem to phase me for some reason.
In the last year, I lost my job and tried escaping via overdose. Since then, I have had increased auditory illusions/hallucinations. None of my trauma directly involved hearing screaming, torture, murder etc, only at a distance or my own voice.
