Clark Fredericks

And my life is now forever altered.

I got scars internally for the rest of my life.

Dennis, I had my bike in the back of his pickup truck.

He drove me back down to the dam area, pulled me again.

This is our secret, keep your mouth shut.

I didn't wanna see any kids at the dam area, so I ran across the ball field with my bike, threw it in the weeds where it was hidden, and I ran down the river,

And I just hugged myself and rocked myself along the river, letting the sound of the river try to calm me down and soothe me and like wash me clean.

And my mind, which thought it was helping me out, really did me a disservice.

But my mind said, we are never going to talk about this.

Talking about this will be reliving it, and we are never going to relive what just happened.

And at 12 years old, I thought I could...

put this in a nice little box, stick it inside and go about my life and all would be well.

I'm here to tell your audience all will not be well.

You might be able to buy yourself some time, decades, but that box is gonna break open at some point and all that trauma and pain and shame is gonna come out and it's gonna derail your life.

So you might as well address it ASAP.

Those who have been abused and keep it a secret, which is nine out of 10 people, either self-destruct or die.

A lot of people commit suicide.

I don't know anybody who immediately

is sexually abused and goes on to have a beautiful, you know, pristine life.

It just doesn't go hand in hand.