Please introduce yourself.
My name is John, and I am a human trafficking survivor. I was working for this guy named Edgar. He was a big, intimidating guy. Everybody hated him… by they were scared to say it. The warehouse had this… feeling of fear in the air all the time. One of my friends was really fed up with the low pay and bad conditions and everything, and he spoke badly about Edgar behind his back like all the time. One day, I think somebody told Edgar. I think it was like two days he was missing, but it felt longer to me. The first time I saw him after he disappeared he was different. He talked a lot more quietly than before and his face was all bruised and… he never really complained about Edgar again.
When did you start working for Edgar?
I was like… nine or ten. I don’t remember super well. I know that I was like a kid when I started.
How did you get into your, um, situation in the first place?
Yeah. There was this cool kid at school. He was like a few years older than me and my friends but we all kinda looked up to him. He looked tough and everybody knew that he had a knife on him… and that was about it. He was like barely ever at school. I never talked to him, but one day he walked up to me in the hallway and told me that I could get a job. I was kinda freaked out that he talked to me, but I also really wanted the job. School sucked, and making money sounded cool, so working with this guy seemed like a good idea. In like a week I had a job.
How did this… job impact you and your school life?
School wasn’t even like a thing once I started working. The work days were crazy long and I was so freaking tired after working every day I didn’t have any time for school work or anything. I eventually just dropped out. The job practically killed me. The work was really hard and dangerous. People passed out from exhaustion and heat stroke and stuff like that all the time.
Why didn’t you just quit?
You can’t. I mean… I guess I thought about it a few times, but everybody knew that you couldn’t just leave. Nobody ever just left, and I think something bad would happen if we tried to leave.
What exactly would happen if someone left?
I don’t know… I guess we were just really scared of Edgar and his guys. I remember this one guy who said he was going to quit and find a better job. He didn’t turn up the next day, or the day after, or the day after that. It was like two weeks later when one of my work buddies told me what happened. I don’t know if it was true but… sorry.
What happened to him?
I don’t… feel good right now. Can we please stop the interview? I don’t want to do this anymore.
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