One day, my parents left.
I was home alone when the phone rang.
“You never learn, do you?”
- 11.
Hearing that voice, I froze.
The darkest moments of my life flashed
before me.
He kept talking.
“Tell your parents to drop the case. Or else…
you know the consequences.”
I picked up the phone, shaking.
He’d hung up.
I threw the phone on the ground, put my head
く
in my hands, and curled up in a ball.
I couldn’t cry.
I heard my breathing, the pounding of my
heart.
I fell into a dark place.
Everything blurred.
I woke up in the hospital.
My parents were by my side, eyes bloodshot.
They were scared.
“This is bigger than we thought,” Mom said.
“Maybe we should stop.”
<
“We’ll forget it ever happened.”
I knew they’d gotten the same call.
But I didn’t want to give up.
I said, “Is there another way? I can do this.”
Mom hugged me, stroking my hair.
“The therapist says your mental state is too
fragile.”
“Sweetheart, it’s okay.”
“We can go back to the way things used to
be.”
I hesitated.
<
It was tempting.
The camp would be erased.
I’d be the happy girl I used to be, and my
parents would love me.
I’d be happy.
I almost said yes.
But then a sharp pain in my chest snapped
me back.
I could never go back.
I shook my head.
“I have to try.‘
Mom started to speak, but Dad stopped her.
He looked at me, soft but firm.
“If that’s what you want, we’ll support you.”
- 12.
After the camp called, many parents dropped
the lawsuit, but some of us kept fighting.
This time, I went to the lawyer and took off
my clothes.
I let him photograph every scar.
Since I couldn’t speak, I wrote down what
happened on paper.
When Lget home my parents hugged me.
Г
“We’re so proud of you!”
They told the media what happened, too.
Soon, the story was everywhere.
The trial was set.
My parents and my therapist had prepared
me, but seeing those people again made me
sick with fear.
One of the counselors looked at me and
smiled.
I screamed, my mind went blank.
My parents comforted me, pulling me
forward.
Г
I gritted my teeth and sat down.
Their lawyer asked the first question.
“Please describe the illegal treatment you
received at the camp.”
My fingernails dug into my palms.
“They yelled at me, whipped me, electrocuted
me, held me underwater…”
I couldn’t go on.
