What follows here can be really triggering, so please take care of yourself. If you cannot read further, I understand and respect that. But, I have to speak my truth, so here goes.

As a young child, I was bound to a stair case by two neighbors. They took turns raping me. They used screaming, beating, a knife and a gun to threaten me and gain my silence. And that was just the first time that horrific summer. Their threats worked and I remained silent.

I am an adult now. I have been in therapy for this for years, both in patient and out patient. I know that am lucky to be alive. Not only could those who attacked me have lost all control and killed me, what they left with me was just as dangerous. In my grief, fear and terror in the aftermath of their crimes, I have been exhausted by my struggle to recover. I have prepared to take my life twice and survived heart failure from PTSD stress on a third occasion. For years, I really wanted to die. For years, I was so detached from life and so terrorized, I felt like I already was dead. It has been and remains a stuggle. But I have come to believe that I am worth that struggle and today I am stronger than ever. Indeed, I have paid one incredible price for my neighbors' brutal inhumanity.

And they have never been brought to justice.

But today, I decided to report their crimes to the police. Even if the police do not or feel they can not act in my case, at least they will know who to watch when trying to keep children today safe.

It is time. I do not have to be afraid of them any longer.

Thank you for being here.

mtd