We Should Have Stayed Away

Age 13, Spokane, Washington, USA

I hope you can forgive me. We should have stayed away. We shouldn’t have stuck around. It ruined us. Surrounding ourselves with drugs, rape, and older men. I shouldn’t have thought it was okay. It wasn’t cool and I know that now.

I hope you can forgive me.
For what I allowed, for allowing it so long, for thinking it was all normal. Growing up in all the chaos made the attention feel nice.

What did you learn?

I learned that even though I let all of this happen to myself, it wasn’t the end of the world. I can still grow and hopefully one day trust. I’ve been successful so far and I was expected to drop out.