Amazing how those things that used to bring you shame and great fear are now seen as a badge of honor and courage but most importantly your life's purpose. Imagine living in darkness and silence for so long that you actually believe that you can't physically see or speak. I never knew that darkness and silence could be so loud and that your vision of life would be obscured and your very voice that screamed loudly while being tortured was now muted. Being alone in the darkness and unable to scream is no fun for anyone, especially a child. A place where your imagination runs wild as you think that there are monsters lurking over your very head and if you dare turn the lights on to expose them that the fear of their snarling faces is more significant than that fear of the unknown. Now you remain silent because you fear that if you speak or scream about those things lurking in the dark, they will hear you and cause you great harm, maybe even death. I found out that when you remain in the darkness you make many mistakes. You will find yourself bumping into and offending those that are just there to try to help you onto your road of recovery that leads back into the light, yet you knock them out of the way because of your fears you can't see the obvious. Falling into ditches becomes common for you yet at the same time they could have been avoided only because you failed to see the many hands and signs that were just there to warn or guide you along your way. This journey to the emancipation of a rape victim is tedious, painful, disappointing, lonely, and filled with much grief but I promise you that if you embark on this journey with me that you too will reap and enjoy the benefits of no longer being a victim of bondage.