My Story
About Me
Hi. I'm, "Confidential Victim".
That's what the police call me in the report, anyway. They say it's for my protection. You see, something happened. I'm not exactly sure where the trouble began or where it ended, but the whole experience felt like I was stuck in an out-of-control vehicle, white-knuckling the wheel to give myself some semblance of control.
I'm a San Francisco Bay Area native and San Mateo County has always been my home. I was born here, I grew up here, I graduated here, and I still find new reasons to love my home every single day.
In 2017, I was in my mid-twenties and working retail, promising myself that soon I would move out of my parents' house and get my creative career off the ground. Halfway through the year, my second long-term relationship failed. I met a man. I finally got my drivers' license and my first car, which was promptly totaled at a stop light by a negligent driver. I argued endlessly with insurance brokers. I got a new car. I cut the man I'd met out of my life. Things weren't going how I'd hoped.
As for my social circle, it was strained. My grandma had stopped recognizing me earlier that year. I had been helping out a friend with their house on the weekends while her husband, also a good friend, battled terminal cancer. Dad collapsed from stress. I felt helpless and wish I could have given my loved ones my health when they needed it badly.
This is my 2017 in a nutshell. It doesn't matter how you drive when there's someone who doesn't mind wrecking you.
All of this made me more down and lonely than I had ever been, but I felt like I had a lot of love to give - and boy did I ever want to give it!. Meeting people organically hadn't really been working in my favor, so I decided that it was time to give online dating a shot. I opened an account, filled out my profile thoroughly about all my wants and needs so I'd have the best result, and waited for Prince Charming to reach out. The app had a compatibility meter that gauged similarly answered questions between users that I paid close attention to before even bothering to chat.
Spoken as a formerly unsocialized homschooled kid, I think pretty much everyone is amazing and valuable in their own ways. Well, I certainly met some people on that app... I met a business man who traveled constantly. We decided our schedules and sexual interests were not a match before we'd even gotten close to any kind of encounter, which I am relieved about now. I met a guy that initially seemed nice, but I wasn't as attracted to him as I hoped I'd be. Eventually, his unsavory political views came out and I decided he was an unhealthy choice for me. I kept chatting with others. It was kind of an adventure. I was pleased that I'd met so many people I wouldn't have otherwise, even though nothing came of those specific dates. I wasn't ready for marriage, but I was certainly ready to meet, "the one".
During all of this, I had also been speaking to someone I wasn't too sure about. He had a silly sense of humor and seemed very patient. He waited around for us to chat and get comfortable much longer than I expected him to without losing interest, and he didn't mind that I had been going on other dates. I avoided asking if he had been. I liked his pictures - he had a unique face; I'd never met anyone that looked quite like him. Our compatibility meter wasn't the best, but the more I told him, the more I noticed it start mysteriously rising. I thought it was weird, but I brushed it off as him just wanting to meet me.
What Happened ->