A small, young girl sits alone in her room, tears streaming down her face as the pain surges through her arm. This wasn’t the first time she’s felt this way. In fact, it isn’t even the second or third, but maybe the 30th or 40th. She’s long since lost count.

We’ll never know why people hurt others, especially those they say that they love. We’ll never understand why parents hurt their children or abuse their lovers. But they do. The damage is done and scars are left as reminders. Their ‘loved ones’ don’t feel very loved.

Most of us know someone who has been through a rough time like this. Perhaps it’s an acquaintance, a family member or even yourself. For me, it’s one of my closest friends. She’s been through everything that could scar one’s childhood: abuse, neglect, finding out she was adopted, and trying to figure out her sexuality.

While my friend was still a fetus, her mother tried to end the pregnancy. The abortion, though, was unsuccessful. Having had an unwanted child, her birth mother then abused her throughout her infant years.

“I kinda trust people less than I usually do, also, sometimes I’m just sensitive to touch. It mostly affects me toward older woman and men,” she said.

Her father wasn’t that better. He probably affected her the most. He hurt her physically, mentally and even sexually. In that time, she didn’t understand what was happening. She was too little to make sense of what was happening.

“I thought it was normal to be used like that,” she said.

In the coming years, her parents were reported to Child Protection Services by a close teacher. Although they weren’t charged for the abuse, they were found responsible for neglect.

As the years passed, my friend felt that she had nobody to talk to about the pain. Nobody knew. She was young and had no clue what she was supposed to do.

“I had the idea that I couldn’t tell anyone,” she said.

Now a middle schooler, my friend has tried her best to mentally erase those years of her life, but they are etched into her memories. For years, she assumed that her memories were only the result of nightmares, until her adopted parents told her everything.

“One time my mom came home and she got mad for some reason. I was six. She grabbed my arm and she threw me against the wall. And she started yelling and I didn’t know what she was saying. And after that I was left alone for the whole entire day,” she said.

According to a recent survey, Six million children are found to be abused yearly. And there are still many others who share similar stories that aren’t told.

“I think the world sucks kind of. Because it’s like, Wow, people do that to their kids? That sucks,” she said.

What would you do in her position? How long would you hide until it was too much to handle? Would you tell your friends to try to escape? Would you head to therapy in hope to heal?