I sat on an armchair in the living room of the apartment I now shared with Anna. I had her old laptop open on my lap. She gave it to me when I moved in so I could look for jobs and do some research on what I might want to do with my life. Since I had spent the past 30 years of my life in a strict, Christian cult, I needed to figure out what the next few decades were going to look like. I tried focusing on the job postings...

I sat on a couch in my new apartment with my new friend and roommate Anna. I moved in with her about a month ago, when I finally escaped from the Christian cult I was raised in. We were still getting to know each other, and I was excited to finally be free from the life I grew up in. “Wait, so you’ve never had sex?” she said with her eyes wide. I was starting to open up to her more about my life in the cult. I was telling...