“

It was a rainy, spring evening when I got the call. It was my mom who told me. She had heard it through a friend of a friend.

“

He was a boy and I was a girl; that was the obvious difference between the two of us.

“

The burden is not yours to carry, but you carry it anyway.

“

Be brave like the survivors, check your biases and be mindful of your need to defend an abuser for any reason.

“

I mean, he did try to sell the love of his life as a sex slave for his hotel.

“

I spent my whole life guarding myself from boys like you.

“

We both didn’t like to use the word “rape,” because saying it out loud would unleash a reality we weren’t equipped to face.

“

I know exactly what to say
because I’m speaking to myself
as I gaze into the eyes of another soul
the soul of my sister

“

Survivors of abuse, assault or any other heinous crime are often blamed and shamed for being victims in the first place – and it’s no surprise that they struggle with self-blame in the aftermath.

“

FYI, it was me who keyed an ‘R’ into the side of your car that night. In case you couldn’t put it together, it stands for RAPIST.