Chapter 106: Chapter 106

Chapter 106 Two people came up together

I squirm uncomfortably, my hands wriggling around in my lap. A sudden dome of awkwardness encases me, and I don't quite know why until he opens his mouth.

"I've been thinking lately," He says quietly, almost hesitantly, "I've actually been thinking a lot, lately." He chuckles.

This catches my attention and my heart rages in my chest. "You have?"

"Yeah....and you know what?" He asks.

"W-what?" I ask nervously, feeling anxious for what he was about to say. Rejection echoed in the darkest pits of my mind, and I tried to ignore it. Maybe I was silly to have those thoughts pass through my mind, maybe it wasn't logical.

But to me, it was natural and it was something I couldn't help.

His face flushes, and I relax a little. Suddenly, I become aware what this very well could be about and soon, my face mirrors his in that it looks like a tomato.

"Well," He flicks his fingers at each other in his lap, "I was thinking if....maybe...." He looks away, "How do I say this? For the love of all things fucking dark and evil, how do I say this?" He runs a hand down his face, messing up his hair, "What I'm trying to say is that I like you, alright? I like you a lot, actually, and......will you be my...my t-thing?"

"You mean girlfriend?"

"Yeah, that!" He exclaims, smiling awkwardly and turning a new shade of red I hadn't known existed.

I smile, my heart melting. It feels so warm and I resist the urge to kiss him. "Yes, yes of course!"

"Really?" He asks, dumbfounded.

I nod. "I wouldn't be sitting here if I was serious with you, Colton. I love you, you know that already and I would be delighted to date you and see where that could lead us."

"I can't wait to go down that road with you."

* * *

A whole year passed, and I chased my singing career. I chased it with a bold passion, not letting the negatives pull me down.

I've found my place in life again, but a new passion has bloomed. A passion that took away my singing career.

Oddly enough, I was at peace with it.

Because after volunteering at an organization that works to battle human trafficking and provides the victims with a home and resources they need to get back on their feet again, I've discovered that I enjoyed helping people. I can relate to them, I can grieve with them, I can fight for them.

And I've become a spokeswoman for the subject that so desperately needs a light shined upon it. I've traded my singing career for this, I've dedicated my life to fight for the cast out, abandoned, and used. People look at me like I'm crazy for trading a life of fame for standing up for the forgotten. Colton has supported me through it all, he didn't think I was crazy for this decision, he looked up to me for making such a decision.

Of course, I do sing on the side, it's something I still enjoy.

But it is more rewarding for me to speak at high schools, universities, public places and anywhere I'm invited about the subject. I am passionate about changing the public perception of sex trafficking through education and awareness, and empowering teens to identify and avoid the traps of a trafficker. I also educate people on the issues surrounding sex trafficking, as well as the recruitment, grooming, and brainwashing that goes into it.

Time and time again, I'm surprised each time I go to a high school or a university. The amount of students that come up to me with worries because their friend or someone they know is being manipulated by a pimp is astounding.

It's more common than anyone could imagine.

Colton and I still attend therapy, I think it's good for the both of us. Our relationship is a work in progress, it hasn't been easy, but that's just how relationships are. Life is beautiful thing, and it took me to hell and back to finally realize that.

I realized that because once in my life, I was naive. I was blind. I was immersed in nothing more than physical items, items that could only make me feel happy temporarily. I clung to a false fantasy back then, I was surrounded by fake people who left me when I made a mistake.

They discarded me like trash when my filth was put on display.

I was alone. Isn't that feeling something we all experience in our lives?

Alone.

Dejected.

Cast out.

I was all those things and more, yet even in my darkest, sorrowful moments, where death tempted me and held me hostage, I was not alone. I didn't know it yet, but I was truly not alone.

Because somewhere, on the other side of town, a man cried out as he brought a gun to his head with shaky hands. Pleading, begging, crying for the first time in many years.

That man was Colton.

Then two people came together.

Two people guided by hate, bitterness, turmoil, and sorrow.

Two people came together to create an imperfect whole.

Those two people were Colton and I.

The mistake that broke me brought me to my knees. It humbled me, it burned my edges until they were ash. It tore me down into nothing.

The mistake that broke me opened my eyes to a world that society turns their back on. The ashamed, the abused, the assaulted, the cast out, the broken, the homeless, the desperate, the poor, the accused, the orphans. All the weary and weak, all those that stumble and fall, desperately trying to get up with shaky arms and bleeding wrists. For all who lie in pain, wishing for death to take them.