2025

 *** Note to my readers.   Sorry for the delay between chapters.  It's been a crazy month!  When I usually write, I go back and edit a ton of times, so this is  a bit more difficult and going back and changing things in the story would be confusing.   When I left, I didn't say goodbye or tell anyone I was leaving; I just left in the middle of the night.   It meant less questions and although I felt bad because this place had actually been pretty nice, I knew that the less the boss knew when asked, the easier it was for everyone.   I figured, eventually, with the clout my "husband" had, the police would be looking and my face was probably all over APB's and plus, with facial recognition and cameras in many places, they were probably following my trail.   I had no intention of letting them catch up to me.     My husband (or perhaps I should say " was band", was a rich and powerful man and, with connection...

 One thing I hadn't been prepared for after I escaped was the rage that had filled me.  I had learned pretty quickly in my short and miserable "marriage" that fighting back didn't help; it only made it worse.  So I had pushed everything way down and just existed, in order to survive.  So when I finally got away, all the anger and pain and fear that I had pretended didn't exist came flooding back.  Instead of letting it consume me, I focused that rage on getting out alive.  it made me more determined than ever to get out, and tell my story to the world.   The farm I was working at paid decently and the food was good, but I had been on the run for several months now and was in my second trimester.   I had a new problem; I was starting to show.   I wore baggy clothes and blamed my extra weight on the good cooking but I couldn't cover it up for much longer.  I liked this place, and my boss and his wife were nice.  They di...

 I found that, as a male, I had quite a bit more freedom.  After the labor laws had been eradicated, there were no restrictions on how many hours children could work and no one really checked anyway.  Employers didn't have to provide health insurance, so it was relatively easy to get a job working and doing odd jobs on a farm and not worry about them checking background too much.  Farmers didn't have a ton of security cameras like the factories or other jobs; I didn't have to worry about having to get a photo ID and facial recognition technology giving me away.   We didn't even have social security numbers anymore; social security had been eliminated.   After the mass deportations, everyone had to carry an ID card proving that were a citizen.   It was supposed to work better and prevent identity theft, but it was easy enough to buy papers for what you needed, no questions asked, if you knew where to look.  You could trade things in ...