Kim* often forgets that she is a part of that statistic. She says hearing it in 6th and 7th grade sex education would make her suddenly grow quiet with the realization that she was one of those "numbers."

She and her sister, Lou*, were both molested by an older brother's friend during elementary school. As the group of 8th graders took turns playing nintendo he would sit next to her on the sofa and do it directly behind her brother's back. So obvious, yet no one knew.

She'd had no overwhelming desire to tell her mom. She felt it wasn't appropriate, but had had a crush on him. Without making a conscious decision to, however, she told her mother one Saturday morning in the living room. She wasn't mad. She listened and she believed her. Lou was there and admitted the same.

I thank God that Kim told. Lou may never have said a thing--she had felt too guilty, in some way to blame. Kim's unabashed admission ended it--and even now, both rarely think of it--they say the comfort and forgetting lies in knowing it isn't your fault.

please remember:

It isn't your fault.



*names changed

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