Reply #99: 13

[cate94]

I've written and deleted this post three times.

I was 13. My Dad had just died.
My neighbor asked me inside to talk about babysitting his kids.

I never told because I thought it was my fault.
Later I realized he was abusing his kids. And then he abused a younger girl who lived next door to us. After he had abused me.

I wish I had someone I trusted enough to tell at the time, but my Mom turned into someone else after my Dad died. My oldest brother came home from the Army crazy and mean. There were landmines everywhere.

I survived. I struggle but I survived.