On August 18th, 2011 I became one of the many one in every five people in the world to be raped. I can’t tell you how it felt to lay in an emergency room bed having to tell myself such a thing actually did happen to me. I felt alone and scared to death really. Getting the plan B one step pill, pain medication, rape kit tests, you name it. I always said nothing like that would ever happen to me because I’ve always been a very positive person, but I very quickly learned anything can happen to anyone. I was interviewed by police officers for hours, I couldn’t walk, and I could barely speak. I didn’t want to speak all I wanted was silence and to be alone, but then again being alone and by myself was a scary thought at that time. He was my boyfriend of one week. We were in his room watching a movie and then I got tossed around like I was nothing and…beat. I blacked out and really felt anything but complete pain and about a minute later I managed to get out. He kept saying “this is what you want.” I grabbed my cell phone and ran into the room across the hall to check myself to see blood and brooses everywhere on my legs and it became hard to walk. I managed to stumble down 14 stairs to see his parents just sitting there, when I knew they were able to hear me yelling stop. All his mother said to me was “did you all get in a fight?” when my face was purple and my legs in terrible shape…I think that is the dumbest thing I have ever in my life heard, literally. I ran out the back door to call my mom who was at work and she asked what was wrong but my head was half way out of the world so I said nothing but I need to leave and she told me to call Dru who is now her ex-husband. I did and he said he was on his way. I walked half way down the street to turn around and see my rapist right behind me. It was the scariest feeling. He asked what he did wrong and luckily Dru got there right after the question. He ran back in his house so fast I didn’t see him. Dru tried going after him but I told him I needed to get home. When I got there the police were called and I was sent to Kosairs emergency room. The boy was handcuffed and arrested that night.

The journey getting over it wasn’t easy. But neither is life. I had been through a lot before that happened to me. All I could do was stay strong, easier said than done. I told myself I was fine. I was going to start at an all-girls school a week later. That’s when I realized things weren’t okay. I had all female teachers except one who was a tall man. I thought nothing of it until I walked into his classroom a week after being raped by another male. I looked at him, started crying and ran out. I sat in the bathroom asking myself what was wrong with me, when the school was looking everywhere to find me. 20 minutes later I decided to suck it up and go back to class. My mom told the school counselor what had happened and being a freshman I was going to be assigned a “Senior Sister”. All the other freshman got to meet theirs in the courtyard while mine was called down to the counselor to be told what was going on with me. I was told she started crying and roamed the school to collect her thoughts. Then the next day I met her and she hugged me. I felt so safe and cared about. Ever since we have been close and never gave up the friendship.

A month after everything happened, and after going to a ton of court dates he finally got arrested. Why? Because I never gave up and I stayed strong through everything I had to do. I wanted him to live in hell like I did and I couldn’t get everything I asked for, he was a minor and he is now 18 so it’s cleared off his record. But I did get him in jail for a few months and got him to have to go to a bunch of therapy he didn’t think he needed. At the time I wasn’t happy with the outcome but a when I got the letter saying he was in jail I felt like the best person in the world. When something like that happens to you, you lose a lot of confidence because you feel like someone would only do a thing like that to you if they believed you were worth nothing and that’s what I believed for 9 months until I got that letter. Even though I stayed strong and kept my feet on the ground that really wasn’t the whole story. A face can tell lies. It’s what is on the inside that tells the truth.

When it was all over and done, I told myself I was going to help people just like me. Whatever the case may be, abuse, rape, lack of confidence, anything. I was GOING to make a difference. I emailed the news and they called me but never got back with me. I wrote a book that I am trying to publish. I have reached a publisher and it’s in the process, and I created an online campaign on change.org but it didn’t make it. I want people who feel weak and worn down for whatever reason to know they aren’t alone and it really does get better it’s just up to THEM. Nobody in the world can make you truly believe anything, it’s your own mind, and you’re your OWN person. I am now 16 and I believe I can do anything I set my mind to. My heart belongs to the world and those who need help. I don’t believe I change the whole world but I do believe I can help light the firework that just explodes with change and does. I am a very strong person that believes anything is possible. I also believe anyone in this world can rise to the top. It doesn’t matter where you come from, the kind of family you were born into, the amount of money you have, none of that. What matters is YOU.