[Sparrow]

17 was also the age i was first sexually assaulted.

i met a Marine online. what can i say, it was the Wild West of the internet era. my friend Ashley and i pulled the classic ‘i’m staying over at so-and-so’s house’ weekend switcheroo on our parents and my boyfriend. what we actually did was drive up to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina to meet this guy and his friend; one of us for each of them. they took us to another one of their buddy’s sparsely furnished off base apartment. we watched Full Metal Jacket and i got drunk for the first time on this awful blue stuff called Hypnotiq.

the last thing i remember was being led into the kitchen by the friend i didn’t know. he picked me up, put me on the counter, kissed me.

i woke up the next morning naked on a bare mattress in the living room. there was a large hole in the drywall where apparently this guy threw my friend into when she ran in to see why i was screaming. she almost stranded me there. she was mad i slept with the guy she was there for. i may have also thrown up…everywhere.