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3 Terrifying True Horror Stories That Will Leave You Breathless · True Horror Stories

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: I never expected my train ride home to turn into
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: a nightmare. It was a cold evening and the train
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: was packed with tired commuters, lost in their phones or
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: staring blankly at the floor. I had taken this route
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: one hundred times before, just another ordinary night in the city,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: but this time something felt off. I first noticed him,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: standing near the middle of the train car, a tall,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: rough looking man with wild eyes and a nervous energy
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: that made my skin crawl. His hands twitched at his sides,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: and his lips moved as if he were whispering to himself.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: At first, I thought he was just another troubled soul,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: someone lost in his own world. But then I saw
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: where his attention was focused. Two young women sat nearby,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: speaking softly to each other. One of them wore a
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: hi job or dark eyes, darting nervously toward the man.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: He was staring at her.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: His face twisted in something between a sneer and a smirk.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Then I heard it, low, ugly murmurs.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: I couldn't make out the words, but I saw the
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: way the girl shrank back, pressing closer to her friend.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Her hands trembled as she gripped the strap of her bag.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Something inside me tightened. The train clattered along the tracks,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: the fluorescent lights above flickering for a moment. The man
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: leaned in closer to the girl, his voice still too
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: low for me to hear, but his body language said enough.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: She was terrified, and then, without warning, he shoved her.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: She yelped as she hit the floor, her hands slamming
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: against the hard surface of the train. Her friend gasped,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: bending down to help her. The entire train car went silent,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: the air thick with shock. I felt my body move
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: before my mind even caught up. Hey, I shouted, stepping forward,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: the hell is wrong with you? The man turned to
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: me slowly, as if I had just interrupted something important.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: His lips curled into a lazy grin. Mind your own business,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: he muttered. My fists clenched. You just assaulted her. Apologize,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: he snorted.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Why should I? She doesn't belong here anyway. That did it.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Before I could say anything else, two other men in
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: the train stood up beside me. One was older, in
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: his fifties, maybe with tired eyes but a strong stance.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: The other was younger, in a business suit, his jaw
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: tight with anger. Leave him alone, the older man said,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: his voice calm but firm.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: You're harassing people, the younger one added, you need to stop.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: The man's grin faded.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: His eyes flitted between the three of us, calculating. The
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: train rocked as it sped through the tunnel, the windows
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: reflecting our tents stand off, big heroes.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Huh, the man muttered, Think you can tell me what
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: to do.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: The tension was thick, ready to snap. My pulse pounded
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: in my ears. The other passengers were frozen, some clutching
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: their bags, others pretending not to see what was happening.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Then everything exploded, a glint of metal. Before I could react,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: pain ripped through my side. My breath hitched as I
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: stumbled backward, a sharp, burning sensation spreading through my stomach.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: He had a knife. I barely had.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Time to process it before he turned on the older man,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: a quick brutal stab to the chest.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Blood bloomed on his shirt.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: He gasped, eyes wide, and collapsed onto a seat. No,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: the old man screamed. The younger man tried to run,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: but the attacker was fast. The knife slashed across his
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: throat in one horrifying motion. He fell instantly, his body
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: crumbling to the floor. I pressed a shaking hand to
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: my stomach. My fingers wet with blood. My legs felt weak,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: the ward tilting around me. The train car erupted into chaos.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: People screamed, scrambling to the far end of the train.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: So I'm trying to pry open the doors. The two
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: girls huddled together, sobbing, their faces, pale with shock. The
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: attacker stood there, chest rising and falling, his knife dripping
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: red onto the floor. His eyes flicked around, wild and unfocused.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: He wasn't done. My vision swam, but I forced myself
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: to move. I had to stop him. With whatever strength
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: I had left, I lunged at him. My shoulders slammed
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: into his side, sending him stumbling back. He growled in frustration,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: swinging the knife wildly, but I dodged just barely.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: He wasn't expecting me to fight back.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: I grabbed his arm, trying to wrench the knife away,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: but he was strong, too strong. He shoved me hard,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: and I hit the metal pole behind me, my ribs
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: screaming in pain.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: The train screeched as it neared the next day.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: The lights flickered again, and then red and blue lights
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: flashed outside. Cops the train door slid open. An officer
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: stormed in, the guns drawn, drop the weapon now.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: For a moment, the man.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Just stood there, his chest heaving, the knife still clutched
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: in his bloody hand. Then, like a trapped animal, he
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: lunged toward the door. A gun shot rang out, not
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: a fatal shot, just a warning. The man froze. The
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: cops tackled him to the ground in seconds, wrestling the
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: knife from his grip. Handcuffs snapped around his wrists.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: He was over.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: I don't remember much after that. My body gave up
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: and everything blurred. I woke up in a hospital bed,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: the staile, white walls, too bright, beep of machines filling
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: the silence. The nurse told me I had survived barely.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: The knife had missed my vital organs by inches. The
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: other two men, they weren't so lucky. Ricky and Daniel,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: those were their names, Two ordinary men who had just
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: wanted to help, who had stood up for what was right,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: and they had lost their lives because of it. The
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: news covered the story for weeks. They called it a
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: hate crime. The man, his name was Charles Barker, had
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: a history of violence of extremeist beliefs. He had boarded
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: the train looking for trouble, and he had found it,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: but so had we. I still think about that night,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: about the two men who never made it home, about
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: the two girls who were just trying to exist in
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: a world that saw them as different. I survived, and
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: as long as I'll live, I'll make sure people remember
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: what happened that night, because hate only wins when good
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: people stay silent, and we didn't. On May twenty six,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, Jeremy Joseph Christian carried out a brutal attack
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: on a Max light rail train in Portland, Oregon. Christian,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: known for his extremest views and history of violent behavior,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: began harassing two teenage girls, one wearing a he job,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: shouting racist and Islamophobic slurs. Three men, Taylorsen, Mirden, Namkai
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Mesh Ricky, John Best, and Micah Fletcher, intervened to protect
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: the girls. Without warning, Christian pulled out a knife and
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: stabbed all three men. Talisen and Ricky suffered fatal wounds
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: and died at the scene, while Micah survived with serious
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: injuries to his neck. Christian fled the train, but was
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: arrested shortly after. During his trial, Christian showed no remorse,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: making racist outbursts in court. In twenty twenty, he was
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: convicted of murder, attempted murder, and hate crimes, receiving a
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: life sentence without parole. The attack was wildly condemned as
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: an act of hate fueled violence, highlighting the dangers of extremism.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: Being a class teacher was something I dreamt of since
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: I was a teenager. Dealing with kids, connecting with them,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: making them learn, and watching them grow has always been
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: the best feeling. The smell of pencils and old paper
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: filled my classroom, and the usual chatter of kids buzzed
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: around me. Gabrielle Fernandez sat in the second row, head down,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: scribbling in his notebook. He was quieter than the others,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: a little bit more reserved, but always polite, always eager
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: to learn. I should have known, I should have seen
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: it earlier. The first time I noticed something was off,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: it was his eyes. They weren't just tired, they were empty,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: like the light inside of him was fading.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: A dark bruise.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: Peeked out from under his shirt collar, yellow around the edges,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: like it had been there for days. When I asked
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: him about it, he flinched, his small hands curling into
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: tight fists.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: Just fell.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: He whispered, A chill ran down my spine. The way
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: he said it sounded fake, like he'd been told to
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: say it. The next week, Gabrielle came to school with
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: a busted lip. The skin split and swollen. Dried blood
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: stuck in the corner of his mouth. His hands shook
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: as he held his pencil, and when I handed him
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: a tissue, he pulled back like he thought I was
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: going to hit him.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Who did this to you?
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: I asked, kneeling beside him. My heart was racing and
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: my stomach turned. My mom and her boyfriend. He mumbled,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: so quiet, I almost didn't hear him.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: They don't like me. A heavy feeling settled in my chest.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: I can help you, gabriel I whispered, You just have
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: to tell me everything.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: His lips quivered.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: He glanced over his shoulder like someone was watching the
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: sam gay. He finally said, his voice cracking. They don't
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: want me. I clenched my fists. He was just a kid,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: eight years old. How could anyone? I reported it right away.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Child Protective Services said they'd look into it, but the
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: next day Gabrielle didn't come to school or the day
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: after that.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: When he finally came back, he looked worse.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: His small body was thinner, his cheeks hollow, his arms
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: got his arms cigarette burns, deep purple bruises, red welts
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: that looked angry and raw.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: I couldn't breathe. What happened?
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. His lips
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: were dry and cracked. They made me eat cat litter,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: he said. They made me eat rotten spinach from the trash.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: I ran out of the classroom, holding back tears, and
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: called CPS again. You need to get him out of
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: that house now, I said, my voice shaking, ma'am. We
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: have a lot of cases.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: I don't care.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: They're torturing him.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: They said they'd follow up. I should have done more.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: I should have taken him and run. Gabrielle stopped talking
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: after that. The spark in him was fading fast. Then
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: one Monday, he came to school with two black eyes,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: the skin around them swollen and purple, his left eyelid
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: barely open. His knuckles were raw, like he'd been scrubbing
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: something for hours. He moved slowly, like every step hurt.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: I pulled them aside, whispering, I don't.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Let them hurt you anymore, okay, I swear.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: He looked up at me, those big brown eyes full
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: of something that scared me, acceptance, like he knew he
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: wasn't going to make it. Two weeks later, Gabrielle Fernandez
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: was dead. They found him on the floor of his
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: mom's apartment, his little body beaten and broken. I was
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: horrified knowing the details about what Gabrielle's own parents did
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: to him. How could someone be so cruel to a child?
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Are they even humans?
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: My legs trembled and my heart burned in pain.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: The thought that Gabrielle died because of his evil parents
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: made me question everything sane and through it all, he
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: still loved them. In the hospital, in his last moments,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: he told the nurses, make sure my mom's okay. I
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: screamed when I heard. I collapsed at my desk, shaking
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: with anger and grief. I begged, I pleaded that the
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: system failed him. I failed him. The trial was a mess.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: The Tsarro agiity, the monster who did this, sat in
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: court with cold, dead eyes. Pearl Fernandez, Gabrielle's mother, didn't
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: cry not want Yes. They played the tapes of Gabrielle's
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: last moments. His cries is begging for help, the horror
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: he went through. I wanted to cover my ears, to
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: forget the sounds of his pain. Hagire got the death penalty,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: Pearl got life without parole, but it didn't feel like justice.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: Gabrielle was still gone. Sometimes I dream about him. He's
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: sitting in my classroom, head down, drawing pictures of happy families,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: families that would never hurt him. I wake up screaming
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: because I know how his story really ended, and no
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: punishment will ever be enough to make up for what
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: they did to him. I heard his voice in my head,
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: his last words to me, help me, and I didn't.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: I kept going over that moment, wondering what I could
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: have done differently. Could I have gone to his house.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Could I have pushed harder with the authorities. Could I
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: have protected him from the people who were supposed to
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: love him?
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: The guilt he eats at me, a constant weight on
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: my chest.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: Gabrielle's face stays with me, his eyes empty, his shaky voice,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: the bruises that told a story he was too scared
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: to share. I think about the other kids in my class,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: the ones who laugh and play and trust the world
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: to keep them safe.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: I watch them more.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Closely now, looking for signs for anything wrong. But no
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: matter how many I help, it'll never be enough, because
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Gabrielle is gone, and the world feels darker without him.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: The case of Gabrielle Fernandez is one of the most
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: tragic instances of child abuse in US history. In twenty thirteen,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: eight year old Gabrielle died after months of brutal torture
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: by his mother, Pearl Fernandez, and her boyfriend Izarro agire
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: in Palmdale, California. Gabrielle was beaten, starved, burned, shot with
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: baby guns, and forced to eat cat litter. Desperate, multiple
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: reports to social services and law enforcement authorities failed to
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: intervene in time. On May twenty second, twenty thirteen, Gabrielle
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: was found unresponsive and later died in the hospital due
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: to his severe injuries. Augiree was sentenced to death, while
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Perl Fernandez received life without parole. The case led to
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: widespread outrage and calls for child welfare reform.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Social workers involved.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Faced criminal charges, but were later dismissed. A Netflix documentary
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: The Trials of Gabrielle Fernandez, shed light on the systematic
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: failures that contributed to his death, sparking discussions on child
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: protection laws. I could still recall the initial time I
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: met him, Doctor Larry Nasser, a name that ought to
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: stand for safety, healing, and trust, turned out to be
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: a nightmare from which I can never awaken. I was
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: only fifteen, a talented gymnast by days, a whirl of
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: chalk on my hands, searing routines, and an endless quest
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: for perfection. My aspirations were ingrained in the shine of
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: gold medals and deafening applause. I believed in the coaches
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: who trained me and the schools that promised to protect
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: my future. It was a fragile thing, though I didn't
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: realize it then. The Michigan State University Clinic towered like
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: a cathedral of hope. I'd heard whispers of athletes revived
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: under Nasser's treatment. Torn ligaments, repaired spines, corrected career, saved.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: My coach, a woman with a clipboard always clutched in
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: her hand, had nodded curtly when I grown through a.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: Vault drill, Go see Larry. She'd instructed, he'll get you
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: fixed up. Her tone brooked no argument. The waiting room
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: smelled of ammonia and mbmbition. Framed newspaper clippings adorned the walls.
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: Olympians mid flight, their bodies coiled like springs. A girl
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: beside me, maybe thirteen, clutched a stuffed bear, her legs
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: bouncing nervously. I wondered if her stomach churned like mine.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: When the nurse came and called me.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: I trailed after her down a clean white corridor. My
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: leotard stuck to me, the fabric still wet from practice.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: His office was a shrine to himself, Awards that shone
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: like teeth, Pictures of beaming girls paused in perpetuity. He
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: rose when I walked in. He smiled disarmingly warm. Welcome,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: he said, as though welcoming a visitor. Let's see what
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: we can do for the pain, he said. Then he
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: put on gloves. The examination table was cold beneath my thighs.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: He hummed as he worked, a tuneless sound that filled
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: the silence. At first his touch was clinical, probing the
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: knot in my lower back, But then his hands slid lower,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: fingers grazing the edge of my uniform. My breath hitched.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: He paused, tilting his head, just checking for muscle tension.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: He explained, his voice smooth is oil. I nodded, teeth
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: digging into my lip. This is what healing feels like.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: I chastised myself, but his hands dull deeper. The world spun,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: my heart beat in my ears? Was this normal? Was
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: I dreaming it? He smiled, softly, taking notes on a clipboard.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: You're doing great. The compliment was a yolk.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: I gazed at the ceiling, tallying water spots until he
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: finally moved away. We'll have to have weekly sessions, he said,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: patting my knee to avoid further damage. The second appointment
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: was worse. No gloves today, no clipboard, His hands bare
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: and greasy with lotion pressed down on me. Before I
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: could breathe relax, he whispered, this will easier. Hippol'em. My
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: mother sat six feet away, turning the pages of a
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: People magazine. A towel draped over Nassar's wrist hid her view.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: I stared at a poster of the Olympic rings on
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: the wall, their colors running together, as tears pricked A
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: man who had sworn an oath to heal was breaking
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: me apart from the inside out. Then I staggered to.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: The parking lot, my legs shaking.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: My mother squeezed my shoulder and asked whether I was
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: feeling better or not. I smiled weakly, yeah, much. The
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: shame fermented in silence. During practice, I winced when coaches
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: made me change my stance. At night, I scrubbed my
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: skin raw under the shower, the water burning.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: I said nothing to.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Anyone, because who was I to question a man so respected,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: so admired. But the cracks widened. In the locker room,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: a teammate grumbled.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: About strange treatments.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: We didn't look at each other. Our shame was a
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: mutual secret. Years later I discovered she'd been seeing him too,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: her file as thick as mine. By twenty sixteen, the
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: rumors became a roar, an investigative piece, a police report,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: a hashtag. When I called the prosecutor's office, my hands
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: shook so hard that I misdialed twice.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: The woman on the phone was patient, Take your time,
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: she said, but time.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Was already lost to us. The backlash was swift, A
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: tention seeker. They called me online troublemaker, sneered a former coach.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: My family's mailbox brimmed with letters accusing me of lying.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Yet with each survivor who came forward, her voice trembling
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: over zoom, her story mirroring mine, the weight lessened voices
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: that had been silenced for decades, finally screamed in court.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: We were a mosaic of grit power, dressing former olympians,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: adolescens with orthodontia, and mothers holding pictures of daughters who
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: took their own lives. When I stood up, the air
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: was charged with all the breath collectively held. Nasser looked
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: down at his handcuffed hands, but I addressed the judge,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: the cameras, the girl that I was. Judge Aquilina's eyes
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: never left his sentence. Upon sentence, stacked up forty years
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: sixty one seventy five, the room breathed out.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: I just signed your death warrant, she said, and.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: For the first time I felt the shackle's ease. We
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: met in the courthouse lobby afterward, embracing like survivors of
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: a wreck. A reporter asked if we had forgiven him.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: I shook my head. Forgiveness. Wasn't the issue. This was
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: about rewriting the ending. Now, when I train young gymnasts,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: I observe the flinch at the approach of a stranger,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: the pause before the high five. We practiced protocols, no
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: treatments in the absence of a guardian, and no secrets
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: from parents. They roll their eyes, but I do not relent.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Nasir's sentence is a life. Ours is a lifetime. The
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: nightmares persist. Is breath hot in my ear, the creak
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: of the exam table, but they're softer now. At rallies,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: we pass the microphone like a baton, each voice a torch.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: The truth is terrifying. It's also our armor. We were
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: girls who wanted to fly, but he clipped our wings.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: We were champions, but he made us feel powerless.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: No more. Today we tell our stories.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Today we are heard, and today we ensure that no
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: other girl ever has to whisper in the darkness, wondering
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: whether she will ever be believed. The world now knows
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: the truth, and the truth is horrifying. The Larry Nasser
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: case is one of the most notorious abuse scandals in
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: sports history. Nasser, a former USA Gymnastics in Michigan State
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: University doctor was exposed for abusing hundreds of young athletes
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: under the guise of medical treatment. His crimes spanned decades,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: with many victims being elite gymnasts, including Olympic champions like
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Simone Biles, Ali Reismann, and MICHAELA.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: Maroney.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: In twenty and sixteen, survivors came forward, leading to an
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: investigation that uncovered Nassar's long history of abuse and institutional
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: cover ups. In twenty seventeen and eighteen, he was convicted
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: on multiple charges, receiving a prison sentence of up to
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: one hundred and seventy five years. During his sentencing, over
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty survivors delivered powerful victim impact statements,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: exposing systemic failures that allowed his crimes to continue. The
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: case led to widespread reforms in USA Gymnastics and Michigan
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: State University, as well as a national reckoning on protecting
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: athletes from abuse.