Sharon Bandy

"Offender" is a story I workshopped in 2018 with Bobbie Ann Mason at the Sewanee Writers' Conference. It explores the gray area in statutory rape laws, and the "offender" trying to make sense of his "crime."

Offender

Two years ago, I fell. From a ladder. From the sky. From grace. Caroline and I were going to run away, so I was sneaking into her bedroom and trying to overcome my fear of heights all at the same damn time. I was nineteen and she was sixteen, and now I’m a sex offender trying to find an apartment so I can have an address so I can get a job. While I was locked up my mom sold the double-wide and left town with her boyfriend, so staying with my brother and his family was my only option for a while.