An Abusive Truth

Lewisville (Texas) high-schooler Katelyn Hoagland: The dreams started in eighth grade, the year when I sang in the choir and performed in theater.

And the year when Logan, the I'm-better-than-everyone-because-I-can-act drama geek, tore me apart with his words daily.

The year when my mom's lupus hit hard.

They always start the same. We're in the bathroom. Someone I love (my mother, my grandmother, my sister) slides their hand up my small thigh.

I ask them to stop.

They laugh.

I cry.