DADDY’S GIRLS

I was 19 when the flashbacks occurred. I remembered a room. I was 6 and there was a man in his 30s. For approximately two years, he molested me and repeatedly told me that I was the bad person because “little girls don’t do these things.”

I always had a faint image of those years but never confronted them. I am 22 and the scars remain. I often wonder where that man is today and how many other girls he has hurt in the past 16 years. Is he still married? Whatever happened to his children? Is he serving time because one girl was braver than I? I do not know the answers because my courage was not as strong as the women of this article.

To Donna, Jackie, Deirdre and the others: Be brave. Remember that you are the victims. Your courage is an inspiration to those of us who couldn’t and to those who wonder if they should.

KYLIE A. HENDRICKS

Los Angeles