I was the youngest in my class. Most of the girls around me were three to five years older, and by JSS 3, a good number of them had already gotten their periods. The pressure! Always also used to come to our school regularly to give talks, free pads, the whole thing. By that point I had collected about four pads that were just sitting there, waiting. You know, the clear nylon with pink wrapper. I was ready.

So ready, in fact, that I started stuffing tissue in my underwear on the regular. Just in case. I wanted to be prepared for when my period finally showed up, because clearly it was coming any day now, I was 11. I didn’t want to waste my pads.

Then one day, my mom caught me. I was walking around the house in just my pant, plenty of tissue tucked in between my legs, completely unbothered. She looked at me and asked if I’d gotten my period. I told her no.

The beating she gave me that day. I get that she was disappointed but I don’t get why. The beating was also so severe, it resulted in malaria.

Now, as an adult, I think about that moment often and honestly? It makes no sense to me. What exactly was the problem? That I was preparing for something my body was going to do anyway? That I was paying attention? That I was excited about it? That my choice of menstrual product was tissues? She could have just sat down and talked to me. Explained things. Answered questions. That’s all it would have taken.

But that conversation never happened. Not that day, and not ever. Till today, I have never had a one-on-one conversation with an adult about periods or sex. Not one. No talk, no explanation, just a beating for being curious about my own body.

And I know I’m not alone in this.

So many of us grew up in homes where periods were whispered about, hidden, or met with punishment instead of conversation. We figured things out on our own, from classmates, from packaging inserts, from guesswork. And honestly, we deserved better than that.

That’s part of why Bloody Mary’s Box exists; to be the conversation that a lot of us never got. Because these things shouldn’t be secrets. And it’s never too late to start talking. If YOU HAVE A PERIOD STORY TO SHARE, SEND US AN EMAIL!