I have written this letter and you are reading it, that is the only connection we have. You may have passed me on the streets and given me some spare change or simply shook your head and walked on. We may be complete strangers, but at this late stage it doesn't really matter. You are reading this not so hopefully you will have found my body: the body I left behind when I went on to better places. You could call this a suicide note but I am not writing it because I feel guilty or because there are people who will miss me, there are none, but merely to stop the police wasting their time trying to find out about me. There are lots of criminals to catch and I don’t want it to be my fault if they get away.
You don't know me. I know that for a fact because no one does. You may look down at my now useless body and feel pity, even sadness, at my death. I'm sure someone will comment 'what a waste' as you try to guess my age. I'm somewhere between 15 and 20- I'll give you that. But I have no name. I did have one once but now I have left that life well and truly behind me. If you must give me a name then call me Anon- like the poets. I have no address, no friends and no job. I am no one and now I never will be.
I live on the streets and have done for a long time. It feels like I've lived here forever. I know that you're probably thinking I'm one of those runaways but I'm not. Because I did not run away: I walked. Then I got on a bus and then a train. I didn't try to hide my identity at the beginning so anyone could have found me if they'd wanted to. But nobody wanted to. So then I changed my name, my clothes, my hair and everything about me so that they couldn't find me even if they wanted to. I'd waited long enough for someone to find me so I didn't see why I should make it easy for them now.
If you really want my life story then here it is, no more than a few words on paper. My parents died in a car crash when I was 12 and I was left with no siblings or relatives that I knew of. I was destined to go into care but instead I walked away with just under £200, which was my life savings. And I have been her, on the streets of London, even since. That really is all there is too it. I never did drugs, or got into prostitution or stole anything. I never did anything like that. I played my guitar and hoped people would give me money, some days I went hungry but that's how it goes. My only achievement in life was my baby that was born last year. Still born. I know I sound self-pitying but don't feel sorry for me. I'm just telling it like it is. You don't know me but, trust me, it's the truth.
So here I am. The dead girl. The dead girl with the dead baby. The dead girl with the dead baby and dead parents. The dead girl with the dead baby and the dead parents, know only as Anon. You may not like it but this is how it will stay, forever.