Behind the gold and brown metallic pom-pons and the dreams of a better future, Alexei Rivera no longer sees the tormented child that he once was. Instead he’s gained strength to be the person he aspires to be. “I am independent now and I stick up for me,” he said.

    He remembers his hands over his face and his eyes closed. It was as if he were playing hide and seek, but unfortunately this was no game. Instead of hearing himself count to 10 in a corner, the only voice he heard was that of the man who would change the rest of his life. Until he was 14 this simple game turned into a seven year fight to speak up for protection. Rivera would remain silent. His childhood memories are of those dealing with being the victim of molestation.

    According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, one in 33 men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime and 15 percent of those victims are under the age of 12. Rivera unfortunately is part of this statistic.

    “I used to have troubles when it was happening,” Rivera said. He remembers being afraid not only for himself but afraid for his family. “He gave me a threat warning,” Rivera said. “He said, ‘If you say anything the whole family will hate you.’ It made me feel bad.” Protected by his threats, the man continued to touch Rivera. Being a child was no longer a part of Rivera’s daily routine.

    Rivera decided he would rather adapt to his own pain. However, with his parents divorced, there was no one to protect him from that man, ultimately causing fear to speak up about what was happening to him. RAINN reports that males are less likely to report a sexual assault. In Rivera’s case “No one ever knew,” he said, and seemed he had the intention of keeping it that way.

    But eventually people discovered Rivera wasn’t the only child hiding in the shadows of this man’s manipulation. That same family member also began to prey on one of his younger cousins. Rivera decided he would rather give himself up than to have his little cousin experience what he had to face for seven years. “I would never want one of my family members to live through what I went through.”

    But Rivera would no longer be sexually abused the moment his mother walked into the house.

    Despite the shock and embarrassment that both Rivera and his mother felt, the police were immediately called. The man was arrested and sentenced with eight years to prison.

    Since then, he has become stronger to withhold whatever the world may throw at him. As a child he tried to block the pain he was experiencing through darkness but he knows now that darkness never takes it away.

    “Memories can never be erased,” he said.  “Forgotten – but never erased.”