Personal Narrative: Freshman Year Of High School

During my freshman and sophomore years of high school, I was a dancer at a local studio and at Arts and Communications Magnet Academy (ACMA). Dancing was fun for me, I met a lot of great friends and was able to express myself through art. I genuinely loved going to ACMA. But, dancing and attending ACMA led me to meet someone who forced me into situations I never expected to be in. Although I wish I had not ever been forced into those circumstances, there is a silver lining to it. Before this story begins, I need to clarify; there is no immediate concern that is needed to be felt. Everything stated has been told to either my parents, my therapist, or a police officer. Freshman year of high school I was sexually assaulted by someone I considered

I decided to switch schools because ACMA had only three AP classes at the time, and I wanted to have more options to be challenged. Here at Beaverton I met someone who truly helped me face the fact that I was sexually assaulted and I had PTSD. For anonymity, again, I will call this person Devin. Devin was someone who genuinely cared about me and hated the fact that I was still having panic attacks and flashbacks to something that happened two years ago. He was able to get past the wall I had built up and actually get me to tell him the specific events that happened during the assault, which was something I had never done

“Flashbacks,” she started; I nodded in response. “Emotional numbness and avoidance of places, people, and activities that are reminders of the trauma, difficulty sleeping and concentrating, and being easily irritated,” she finished. I nodded again. All of those symptoms I identified with. This was when I was officially diagnosed with PTSD by a trained professional, the fact of which took me weeks to really register as true. But, I took it seriously this time, even though I was extremely overwhelmed with the fact that I have a disorder that affects war