ST. PETERSBURG, Fla — Angelina Phoenix began writing "Fallen Angel" when she was just 15 years old after hearing disturbing stories within her community about children encountering online predators.
"I kept on hearing different cases in the homeschool communities of different children that were meeting up with online predators that they thought were younger kids on the internet, or their friends, or like a father figure to them," Phoenix said.
Phoenix was never a victim of human trafficking herself. She grew up home-schooled and maintained a good relationship with her family. However, the stories she heard from other children her age motivated her to take action.
WATCH: Tampa Bay author writes book to help families discuss human trafficking prevention with kids
But when Phoenix tried to find educational resources about trafficking prevention, she ran into a problem.
"I looked for resources on the prevention side of things, and the media that's out there is either glorifying older guys with younger girls or it's rated R, so you wouldn't show that to a child," Phoenix said.
This roadblock led Phoenix to write her own story - one that would give families a chance to have difficult but appropriate conversations about trafficking without glorification. She completed half the book as a teenager and waited until she turned 22 to finish the rest.
The book, which tackles a topic many would rather ignore, uses metaphorical language to address serious themes. Phoenix reads passages that reference "sky shadows" and "night lurkers" as she discusses the possibility of escape and remaining innocent.
Now that "Fallen Angel" is officially published, Phoenix's mission is to continue spreading awareness about trafficking prevention.
"Basically, that there's a lot of darkness in this world, but if we band together and keep putting fuel on the fire of light, then we can turn all of these scary monsters into simple shadows," Phoenix said when asked about her main message for readers.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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