Child Abuse Story From Karen J
by Karen J.
(California, USA)
A Night To Remember:
I have 3 older sisters Mayra, Tania, and Adriana. When I was about 10 years old when my parents separated. Mayra and Tania already had there own family, so Adri, Mom, and I moved into a 1-bedroom apartment. Later on, my mom introduced us to her new "friend." His name is Juan.
As days went by, Juan would spend the night every other day. One Sunday night, Mom, Juan, and I came home from a party. Adriana was working that night so she wasn't home. When we got home I took a shower. When I got out, I saw my mom and Juan lying on the bed. I went to go lay next to Mom, and all together, we watched TV. Now I'm a daddy's girl so it was hard for me to except Juan, but at that time I was starting to.
A couple minutes later, my mom decided to go to McDonalds and at that time, we lived nearby McDonalds. So, my mom left me alone with Juan. When she had left, I was still lying on the bed with him until it finally clicked to me that this was wrong. I was jumping over Juan to get off the bed when he tickled me causing me to fall on top of him. He asked, "Are you ticklish?" "Yes," I responded. Then he began tickling me, which I thought was normal.
All of a sudden, his hand crept under my shirt and his other hand crept in my pants. I didn't push back. I didn't cry. I simply...just...froze. I've seen this happen on TV so many times and yet I still didn't know how to react. Then the house phone rang and I ran for it. It was my mom saying she was on her way. I didn't tell her anything. After I hung up, he tried to touch me again but this time I reacted. "No! Stop it, please just stop!" I said with tears running down my cheek.
"Alright I will, as long as you don't tell your mom, okay?"
"Okay now let me go!" He let me go and went back inside the room.
My mom came home and didn't even notice that I had been crying. I never told her that night. I never told her at all. Not even when we moved to a 2-bedroom house because Juan was moving in with us. Not even when my mom and I were talking about child abuse and she told me that she would believe me and be by my side if Juan ever did something like that to me. Not even when I saw Juan beat my mom in front of me. When I finally spoke I was 12 and it was too late. I have never told anyone about that night because I was pretending like it never happened. Yet, deep inside it was killing me. The first people I told that year were my 2 best friends. They were there through the whole process.
One day I finally decided to tell my mom, and guess what?? She didn't believe a single word that came out of my mouth. I cried so much that day that it seemed like my mom had just died. To me, she did, at least the mother I thought I could trust died that day. That week caused tremendous fights between me and her and my sisters and her.
One day we started arguing about the same thing. I told her, "You know what, let me make it easier for you, Mom. You can keep dating Juan but, he has to live somewhere else and move back in when I'm 18, or I can leave now and never come back."
"Oh yeah right, do you think he's going to wait that long?" she responded.
"All right fine! I'll leave then."
My mom just cried and went to her room. I grabbed the phone and called my dad. Next few days my dad picked me up and I left the house. My mom didn't even say bye.
I am now 15 and my mom is still with Juan. Obviously, she still thinks it's a big fat lie. This whole experience taught me everything. One thing I regret though, is blaming everything on myself. That's the one advice I give to those who are suffering from the same thing. DON'T ever blame yourself.
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