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CIGARETTE SMOKE & SCREAMS

Dex

G rowing up with parents suffering from addiction is hard. And my mom’s issues were no fucking joke.

She overdosed when I was young, leaving me in a car filled with cigarette smoke and most of our worldly belongings. A good samaritan happened to be walking past and heard my screams and rescued me. We’d been evicted the week before.

I guess it was only a matter of time before it happened, based on what I’ve been able to piece together over the years.

And honestly, maybe that saved my life. Having her go when she did.

A revolving door of stepfather types… that’s what she’d call them all, even if they’d only been dating for a few weeks. I was starting to get to the age where the way they treated her was kicking in some kind of protective instinct. I was always a tall kid for my age, but I would have been no match for some of these guys she’d have around. They were tall, too, and had filled out and easily had a solid hundred pounds on me .

But I have, let’s say, an intense problem with men who hurt women, and that’s never really gone away.

In fact, if anything, it's intensified.

And everything is magnified when it comes to Margaux.