[her voice has gone soft. These years have the most holes in them, for obvious reasons, and yet they were some of the worst.]

I was messed up...but not that messed up. He dropped it. Or, I thought he did. Except then he got a dealer to front him and waited until I was half gone already...and that was it.

[the fight was out of her voice as much as it had left her then] Three years. It took three years to get out, skimming money until I'd have enough to convince him it was worth letting me go.

Except, I didn't have anywhere to go. You aren't really free, at that point. Just a wreck.

That's how Lou found me. He was Angel's boyfriend and a cop and he found me curled on on some doorstep trying to pretend I had somewhere else to be.