"One of my mother’s coworkers isthe kid who molested me in high schooland I don’t like that he is..."

“One of my mother’s coworkers is

the kid who molested me in high school

and I don’t like that he is still within arm’s reach

of the women in my family.

His name comes up at Christmas dinner

and I grit my teeth.

He was not supposed to stay so long

in my story.

He was supposed to be exit wound.

Bad dream. Aftertaste.

When they talk about cutting your abusers

from your life, they don’t talk about what do to

when he and your mom share the same nine-to-five.

And I know he talks to her, like he’s got nothing

to be ashamed of.

Like he shouldn’t have been on hands and knees

begging her forgiveness from day one.

And I wonder if he ever asks about me, or

if men like him even care about the ones

they’ve left in their aftermath.

But I am not what he did to me.

I can’t erase him from my story, but I’m

writing him into the margins. He will be

a footnote in my history.

His mouth will never again dirty my name.

He will go faceless into a future

that does not know him

and does not want him.

Getting away with it is not

the same as innocence. I

will never say his name

again.”

- FOOTNOTE by Ashe Vernon (via latenightcornerstore)