Thank you for reading me on the day that you did. Thank you for not only finding your voice, but for having the courage to speak out to the police. No woman should ever have to go through what you, I, or countless others have.

Rape is graphic, it is violent, it is unfair, and it is wrong. For those that can't take action, I don't really blame you. For those that do, you have my infinite respect.

Rape doesn't just happen once and goes away, it stays with you for the rest of your life. The effects can be devastating -- I'm currently living proof of that for certain aspects of my life. You lose trust, faith, hope, and love. You question the motive of every person you encounter, you are constantly scoping your surroundings for a way to escape, you are looking for the person you might have to scream out to in the event that you are taken right then and there. You worry about your friends, your family, your colleagues, and even complete strangers who look vulnerable. You crawl out of your skin late at night because nobody understands that everything you are now is a world away from everything you were before you were raped.

I'm no expert, but I know that no two rapes are ever the same. You'll find that once you take action, it will snowball. There will be no turning back, and court will be absolutely terrifying. Defense may try to drag your sexual history into it, and you will probably have to look your rapist in the eye. You will feel every emotion under the sun. It will be rough, but please find solace in the fact that if you stick to this, he won't be able to do this again. Not to you, and hopefully he goes away long enough to learn to not do it ever again to anybody, ever.

I don't want to glorify the post that you read. Every year, as the anniversary of my rape creeps up, I do my own head in. What could I have done differently? What if, what if, what if, woulda, coulda, shoulda... but it's done. I wrote that post to make it real again, to know that what I'm doing now is a positive effect of that, that I am taking back some of the power that I lost that night. Revenge and hate will eat you up, and I speak only for myself when I say that I found nothing but grief and exhaustion from thinking negatively. I never meant to help you, but I'm overwhelmed that you drew such strength from it.

Don't ever give this cunt the satisfaction of feeling pity, sorrow, or shame for yourself. We are all vulnerable, and people like this bastard look for that chink in our armour and totally exploit it. What's done is done, but what matters most is what you choose to do from here on in -- and you're doing brilliantly so far.

One day, I hope to make a dent and maybe help other survivors find their voices. But for now, I can only be a friend. You are a strong woman, and you will overcome this. You are never alone.

PS. Us birds, we can be a lot tougher than we look, huh?