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Survivor story

#412

Original story

Dear reader, this story contains language of self-harm that some may find triggering or discomforting.

Message to a Survivor

Things get better. If you asked me ten years ago what I wanted from life I would have told you I wanted to die. I remember cutting my wrists so deep just to feel. I remember driving and praying somebody would just hit me and kill me. At the time I thought I was too coward to kill myself. Looking back; I think young me knew I still had some fight left to give. Now ten years later I sit here and type my story with a new appreciation for it. There is no more shame. I hate what happened to me but I am a strong woman from it. I have a career helping young kids in poverty, I have a husband who adores me, a beautiful home, and amazing friends who care for me and accept me for all that I am. If you asked me ten years ago if this would be the life I live I would tell you your crazy. I am so glad I hung around to find out. Teenage me would be so proud to hear what a strong woman we turned into. Every day is not perfect but I no longer let my trauma rule me.

Message of Healing

Sometimes I believe we think healing is a destination. A place we just arrive and once we arrive there all our pain and sorrows just go away. I learned that healing is not linear. Some days feel like you can conquer the world and other days I feel like the world is conquering me. Healing doesn’t mean forgetting. It doesn’t mean not having any more feelings. It means that these feelings no longer take you out. It means actively working on changing the narrative that you have sold yourself for so long. Believing that you are worthy of all good things. Healing does not mean that we just get over it. There are some things that you just never truly “get over”. But I promised myself that I will love my body, mind, and soul. I will no longer let those boys take any more from me. I will not let my story define me. I am not what happened to me. That is the beauty of healing. Allowing yourself to feel and finding strength in sharing your truth. It is our stories to tell and nobody else’s.

I was 17. All my friends rented a beach house on the shore. It was our time after graduation to unwind and have some fun. Little did I know that this moment would soon haunt me for the rest of my life. It was our last night at the beach and we all began drinking. I started to get tipsy and before I know it I was on the beach with one of the popular boys from school. We ended up hooking up. He escorts me off the beach and by this point I can barely walk without stumbling. He takes me back to his house where his three friends are. I have no remembrance of how it begun but they all started to kiss me. I remember being disgusted while his one friends starts gripping me and kissing my mouth. I want it to stop but I say nothing. All three of them take turns on me. This is where my night begins to become more of a blur. I wind up at a house party. All I remember from this night are little bits of information. By this point, I was almost black out drunk. I couldn’t even walk. Somehow, I wound up in a closet with 3 new boys. I have no remembrance of how I got there. What I do remember, is being in the corner of the closet. The three boys cornering me. Pulling there pants down. I begin to cry. I tell them no. But they don’t listen. The rest is a lost memory. All I remember after, is them walking out of the closet and everyone at the party cheered. On my worst night of my life. Everyone cheered. A guy from school came and got me. Took me back to his place where I knocked out. I woke up to his friend calling my friends to get me. My friends arrive and I dropped to the ground and sobbed. I just fell to the ground and wept. I couldn’t remember in my mind but my body knew. The next day, all my friends refused to give me a ride home. I had to call my grandma to come pick me up. A few days later, I’m the trending conversation on twitter. Everyone knows about me. I’m the girl who had a threesome in a closet. A few days later, I get a harsh message from my friend who retraced my night. She Explained that I started out with the boy on the beach. Had a threesome with those boys. At the party, I was in the closet. I told them no, but then I went along with it anyways. That in the closet, someone opened the closet and saw me butt naked having sex. And when the boy retrieved me from the party, Apparently when I passed out he had sex with me too. The house maid came into the room and caught us. She told I was assaulted but it was my fault anyways because I was drunk. That messages lives in my mind. I have no recollection of that night. I woke up the next day, and I felt no hangover or nothing. I to this day believe I got roofied. I just remember feeling numb. Feeling lost. All my friends left me. And I went and slept all day at my grandmas. Too ashamed and embarrassed to tell anyone what occurred. I was the girl everyone was talking about. The slut. The whore. The girl all the guys could get with. The pain of not knowing every detail chipped away at me. Thoughts swirled around my head. This was my fault: I was drunk so I have no right to be mad. I didn’t say no loud enough. Maybe I didn’t say no at all. Or maybe, even worse deep down I wanted this. I created this narrative that people painted about me. I was just the girl who was only good for sex. The girl who was just a pretty face. I told myself for years my story did not deserve to be told. Because the details were so fuzzy it probably didn’t even happen. What if I was just making it all up. I had been told I was dramatic in the past. Maybe this was just me being dramatic. I went the next 8 years, telling myself that it was somehow my fault. Convincing myself that somehow I was confused and made it up. Even though my body was keeping score. I threw myself at any man. I didn’t get close. I just fucked. Didn’t matter how many dudes in a night. I just let them do whatever they wanted to me. That was who I was so what was the point. Shortly after, my anxiety kicked in. I had panic attacks daily. I began cutting myself. I wanted to die. I told myself my anxiety and depression was because I was unhappy with my career and was stressed. I told myself I was depressed because I had gained weight and I was just unhappy with ny appearance. When truth was, I was gaining weight because I wanted to hide. Male attention meant danger. I had no trust in them and I had no trust in myself. Drinking and large groups meant loss of control. Which meant danger. My life was a spiral and I didn’t know how to get out.

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