When you go from a childhood where you’re not only painfully alone but often frightened as well, to having the chance to be on your own, even if that means you’re homeless in the dead of winter, sleeping in your freezing car in a scary part of town, you’ll gladly take it. It’s a step up, a comparative paradise. Did I feel safe? No. Had I ever felt safe? No. At least now my life was mine, and I could finally say I was alone and have no one look for the asterisk. And maybe now people would care, maybe then they’d see. But no one ever did.
