It Happened To Me Too

This is not for likes or shares because

It happened to me too.

At the age of eleven, my mother forced me to cover the breasts that I didn’t have with a scarf

So that I would not

“Entice the boys”

“Attract the boys”

“Provoke the boys”

It happened to me too.

At the age of twelve, I was groped in the wrong places

By a boy in my grade

I tried telling the teacher

She brushed if off and told me that “Boys will be boys”

It happened to me too.

At the age of thirteen, I was catcalled

By men decades older than me

I was just a child

It happened to me too.

In high school, I was raped

Because “I was asking for it”

Because “I wanted it”

Because "I was too innocent and needed to be a little bad"

He put out a cigarette on my arm and said

“This is a reminder for what I’m about to do to you”

Although, I screamed “No!” a million times,

He did not stop

It happened to me too.

I went straight to the police

The officer recognized my rapist’s name

“But he’s

…An outstanding student”

…At the top of his class”

…A polite kid”

…The best on his team”

Then he asked me

“Are you sure you want to ruin this guy’s life for something you could have provoked?”

It happened to me too.

The following years of high school, I would leave class

The smell of cigarette smoke would trigger something within me

Wanting to get the feeling of him off of my skin

Scratching every area where he touched until it bled

Until I was sobbing and suffocating

Anxiety attacks

It happened to me too.

I bought cigarettes from a kid in my class

I was not eighteen yet

But I wanted to stop the helplessness that I felt

The anxiety

The pain

The anger

Whenever I smelled that cigarette smoke

It happened to me too.

Another girl saw me buy the cigarettes

And told my best friend

My best friend called me

“A drug addict”

“A fiend”

“A heathen”

I wanted to tell her

But I knew she would not understand

It happened to me too.

A few years passed,

I had a stable job.

I was happy.

A coworker asked me for a ride to his place.

I said,

“Yes, as long as you do not try anything.”

He chuckled it off,

“I am not like that. I would never try anything like that”

It happened to me too.

At the end of his ride,

He tried to rape me.

I stopped him.

It happened to me too.

I told the owner and the manager

They expressed their sympathies

Yet they took no action.

Other women worked there

Some above eighteen

Some underage.

I was disgusted and quit

Because it could have happened to them too.

Now, we have arrived to the present

I know that it is not my fault.

I know that it didn’t provoke it because of the way

I spoke

I dressed

I looked

It is not my fault. It is his.

I overcame every horrific moment.

It happened to me too.

So many woman

Have gone through the same circumstances

But were too afraid to speak because

It happened to them too.

So if something similar happened to you

Do not be afraid to tell me what you have been through

Do not be afraid to file a report with the blue

Because it happened to

Me too.

Her too.

Them too.

Us too.