To The Man Who Sexually Harassed And Assaulted Me And Won’t Admit To It

You can tell everyone you didn’t do it. You can beg and plead for them to believe you, but we both know what happened. We both know what you did.

I don’t know how you’re able to still be the same after you did this to someone.

You succeeded. You made me scared to go anywhere alone. You made me cry in my room at night, asking why all of this had to happen. You’ve made me lonely, scared, restless, and anxious. You managed to turn my world completely upside down. You stripped me down for weeks until I was completely vulnerable. You thought you could get away with saying or doing anything to me because I was a “naive” girl, at least that’s what you thought. But you did not know the fire that was coming.

The weird, twisted part is, I want to say thank you for a few things.

Thank you for teaching me to fight for myself, even if the odds were completely stacked against me.

Thank you for teaching me to not trust everyone. Some people will always be monsters, no matter how badly you want to believe differently.

And, thank you for putting me through absolute hell. It only made my flames bigger and my fight stronger.

I promised myself not to stay silent. I think the biggest lesson that me and every other woman learn from people like you, is to band together. We’re not weak, and there is more power in numbers than you know. You should be scared. Women stick by women, you should know this by now.

Finally, I want you to know that no matter how hard you try to make yourself seem like the good guy, you’re not. I have no sympathy. I know what happened. We both know what happened. And, so does everyone else. The act is over. If you think you’re going to get away with it, good luck, because the fire is coming for you.