TRIGGER WARNING:

Thanks to good old Facebook Memories, I was reminded that today...I was getting ready to go to a school dance. Excited that I had bought a new beautiful dress, and living a mostly carefree teen-aged life. Little did I know, my best friends boyfriend would get drunk and cross a line. Right there on the dance floor, for all eyes to see. Wandering hands went places that no one else had been. I said no; I froze; I cried. and the next morning everything hurt. Everything was different; I was never to be the same person again.

And then I became a slut. a tease. a bad friend. I lost everything, including myself...for a long, long time. I told nobody, I was embarrassed and felt like saying something would just make it worse. But eventually, I opened up. I told my story. I stopped letting it be a secret that I had to keep.....and it got better.

The pain still lingers on. I'm 25 now and there are many, many days that I wish I could get his face out of my memory, or that maybe I could have gotten an apology...from at least one of my 'friends' who left me to suffer alone. But I won't get that, and so I choose to live my life as a glass half full. I won't let it define me, I won't let it sour me. I am happy, and loved and cared for. I didn't give up, and if I can just help one other person today who has been through something similar - then I will be happy.

Sending all my thoughts, we're all fucking fighters and survivors!