I've been robbed at knifepoint before over dope by a person I thought was a friend. I have been burned a few times. I certainly have degraded myself on a few hundred occasions. I've stolen from the til once or twice. I have even convinced myself that my lies were true, one of the biggest crimes of them all. This post isn't about what I did or did not do. It is about the life that I lead and the pain that it eventually caused me.Women on the streets get abused. That isn't speculation. That isn't an observation. That is a fact. I was told that my pussy was a gold mine, a treasure chest that could supply a lifetime of drugs and money. IF ONLY, I had the right management. I certainly had to pass on that bargain basement line but I did get hooked up with a stranger who said we would be running partners. He wanted to "protect me". I have been alone so long, a momentary lapse, a "why not", has turned into decades of headaches on and off. It isn't just about the drugs. It can be about the choices you make or the passive way life overtakes you.Men get abused. Fighting for a rung on the ladder of Chaos. The expectation is that you will provide a way. No one stopped to ask you how you got here. Just don't fall asleep without your shoes tucked firmly under your head.Trans people get abused by the world that loves to hate them. Trans women taught me how to hold down a corner, flag down a date, and cry without smearing my eyeliner. A trans man taught me how to tape up my chest so no one could tell we actually had parts that inspire sexual violence at three am when you are sleeping all alone. We are all gender neutral when we have no periods, no orgasms, no food, and no will to live unless you want me to baby. That will be $20 extra.I never meant to get hooked up with a sociopath. Who does? Also/and who had already been in prison for manslaughter (I found out later). I did believe him when he said he would kill me though. I absolutely knew it inside the little bit of intuition a heavy nod didn't take away from me. "It was the drugs", he told me as he handed a bunch of faded roses. I am not sure where he stole them but they won't reduce the swelling on my black eye. I toss them on the sidewalk. Why not? You are going to certain going to "make me pay" one way or the other.This hostage situation was brief. The scars are lasting. A few broken noses, a chipped tooth, three years of restraining order lasting. The chorus of white men who wrote the big book didn't explain what to do when your abuser want to make you feel powerless again. Recovery is a journey and I'm walking home. Walking to a meeting one night, I encounter him again. "It was the drugs..." he tells me. I was walking home alone to my SLE. Sober living and torn up from trauma. When the past creeps up on the present, it may not come in the form of a broken needle or a baggie. It might just walk right up to you and introduce itself as a sheep among the wolves.You may stop using. You might not.You may die from an overdose. You may survive.You may look back on this time, wondering "why".Plan on living.Plan on sticking around,