“Nobody should get to make the decision to end their life.” The words escaped his lips with such conviction that, for a moment, I almost envied him. There was something revolting about the certainty in his voice. Not the words themselves, perhaps, but the ease with which he could say them. But, perhaps that’s what kept him alive, the conviction, the belief, the dedication that nobody should get to end any life because of the repercussions it has on others. “Is that what’s keeping you alive?” It took me a few minutes to cough out, a live debate in my head. I didn’t care what was keeping him alive, I was just curious. But curiosity is what kills the cat. He seemed taken aback by the question. For a moment, the certainty that had filled the room just seconds earlier appeared to falter. “It’s one of the reasons, the others are more complex.” he said. I wondered whether he had expected me to accept that answer. Whether he thought it was enough. I didn’t dig deeper. I didn’t want to fi...
It started out easy enough. I had been talking to this guy from the Bay area for roughly six months. When my situation went bad at my sister's place and she got evicted he drove out here to pick me up. Said I could stay with him no big deal. Fast Forward like 2 weeks and he starts telling me I need to get some money and so I had better post an ad. I was lost! I had no idea what that meant and so the next day he dropped me off somewhere on E 14TH and told me to just walk down the street he would pick me up further down the street. By this time I caught on and was terrified. I had never done anything like this before. I was promiscuous but never for money. Luckily, (for me), no tricks stopped for me and he picked me up where he said he would . He was really mad. When we got back to his house he told me to get out. Threw me and my stuff out in the middle of Oakland with nowhere to go and not one person I could call. It was February and it was cold. I was freezing, scared, and felt l...