When I was young I used to love going to Mexico. My family would always go visit any chance we got, and I would always be so happy. I have a lot of family in Mexico, so I would look forward to seeing them again. We would especially like to go to Mexico in March because March is when all the parties are going on. I would always walk around with my family eating food and playing around. There was an extended family member I would hang out with when I was there. She was older than me by two years. I always felt safe with her, and I loved hanging out with her.

Eventually I noticed her behavior towards me started to change. She started to act strange, and I began to get more and more uncomfortable with her. I didn’t know the things she was doing were wrong, so I stayed silent about it because I thought it was a normal thing. I thought she would never do anything to me or do anything to hurt me. Over time her actions would get worse and worse. She was getting more intense, and she would tell me that everything that she was doing was normal.

That extended family member that I trusted so much, whom I felt so safe with, did in fact hurt me. I remember that day vividly. I was at her house and we were hanging out. I don’t want to go into too much detail about what happened, but I wasn’t the same person once I walked out of there.

She betrayed my trust and hurt me in one of the worst ways possible. Ever since that day I no longer felt safe with the person I trusted the most. Even after that day, she wouldn’t stop harassing me. It didn’t get better and her actions continued. I would always be uncomfortable around her, and I felt like I wasn’t safe being around her anymore. I was like this for a good six years. I never told anyone about it because I was scared. I was afraid that nobody would believe me. I did tell my other family member in Mexico, but she didn’t do anything. She brushed it off like she didn’t believe me. But I eventually told someone else, and she was there to support me. I began to open up more about it. I told my other family members, and she managed to give me the confidence to finally tell my mom about it. At first I was really scared, but my mom was there for me. She supported me, and I wasn’t afraid anymore. I wasn’t going to stay silent anymore, and I won’t let other people keep me silent anymore.

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