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i wanted to tell someone that my mom's
boyfriend abused me
but every time i thought about getting
help i imagined everything getting worse
like having to talk to lots of adults
about it
or getting taken away and not seeing my
friends anymore
or getting separated from my little
sister
i was scared that my mom's boyfriend
would keep abusing me
but i was even more scared of what would
happen if i told
anyone why don't people talk about abuse
there are more reasons than i can count
but one of the biggest
is being afraid of what would happen if
they told
savannah imagined that if she told
anyone that her mom's
boyfriend abused her something bad would
happen to her
or her mom or her sister she didn't
understand that telling about the abuse
makes the situation start to get better
not worse when i play with my sister
natalie
i feel like nothing's wrong and i forget
how hard mom has to work to give us food
and other things
and i don't have to think about mom's
boyfriend abusing me
the first time it happened mom was at
work
i told travis i was bored he said he
knew a game that we could play
and he took me into the guest room he
said it was a game you play without
clothes
i got really confused and scared
i told him i didn't want to do that but
he said it was okay
travis said we'd both be in a lot of
trouble if anyone found out
i believed him i was afraid i'd be in
trouble for having sex
and it would hurt my mom but it kept
happening
travis said he would go to jail if
anyone found out
and they'd take natalie away
so i thought it was better if i never
told
i tried to ignore my feelings
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but one night i cut my finger
i tried to say i was sorry but mom was
just glad i was all right
it was really sad because i was thinking
how the abuse hurt worse than my finger
she asked if something was bothering me
i was still scared to tell her
but right then i could see how much she
cared about me
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i knew if i got abused again it would
hurt her more
so i decided to tell her what travis did
and she believed me
none of the bad things i imagined would
happen actually happened
we talked to someone who helped make
sure i wouldn't have to see travis again
she told me that by telling i helped
protect my sister
and other kids
[Music]
i'm glad savannah was able to talk about
her abuse and get help
she kept the abuse a secret because she
imagined bad things would happen if she
told anyone
but savannah realized that stopping
abuse is
more important than anything and none of
the bad things she worried about
happened if you've been abused and
you're ready to talk about it
don't worry about what could happen most
of the time
nothing bad happens and the abuse stops
talking about abuse means things can
start to get better
not worse
you