In all honesty, I come from a low-income, single-parent home, but I live in a reasonably wealthy town so often times people don't really understand my struggles. My mother is disabled and a victim of domestic violence, and my father has never been a part of my life, not in the way a father should be. I have two younger brothers on my mother's side and they truly mean the world to me, I basically raised them as I had to step up into the secondary parent role at such a young age. My struggles haven't just been familial and financial, I carry with me the weight of sexual trauma stemming from multiple occurrences and abusers. I carry with me mental health issues, depression, PTSD, and anxiety, to name a few. I carry with me ADHD, something found later than I would have liked. I have spent more than half my life either being abused or trying to find a way to pick back up the pieces. It took me a long time to tell what happened, and quite frankly if I he hadn't been that rough that last time, which resulted in a doctor's visit, I may have never said anything at all. I was just a kid. Everything in my life changed after that, and not for the better. No seven-year-old should worry about potentially testifying against the boy who robbed her of her innocence. No seven-year-old should ruin her perfect attendance to sit on the stand and share her story to an empty courtroom, just in case. No ten-year-old should have to worry about whether or not she can go to middle school in her town because He goes there. No twelve-year-old should be grabbed from behind in such a manner. No thirteen-year-old should detest Thanksgiving because the man who had been her "family", had been her "blood", will be there. No fifteen-year-old should be spoken about or to with such vulgar words. No sixteen-year-old should have to explain to her best friend that she can never go to her house because He lives next door. I've lived through these things, and so many more, that no one, especially not a child, should have to deal with. But I'm still here. I struggled greatly in school despite my future seeming so bright. But I worked hard and bounced back. I had been so low that I couldn't even recognize myself. But I fought to, slowly, find my way out of that hole. It's taken a lot of fighting and internal struggle to get where I am but I am in a place where my good days outnumber the bad. Even ten years after the first instance of sexual assault, I have a hard time grappling with the reality of my past, but I can still say I'm better, not healed, somethings never heal, but they can get better, and I am better than before. I may not be all the way out of that hole, I may slip further down at times, it's possible I may never make it out, but the light is a lot brighter where I am now. I understand that this isn't like most others' stories, I understand that this is not the story everyone wants to hear, but it's my story, and I plan to tell it.