TICKET TO THE STARS

Derek and Adam waited patiently on the station. They’d arrived early, even though at 3 am they didn’t expect anyone else to be there, so they could steal a few moments to hold hands and talk together about the step they were about to take, to give themselves time together before anyone else arrived.

“At least this early, we’ll avoid the damn stares and whispers”, Derek had said.

There was no way to know if this was a good idea, but it was the only idea that made sense to them anymore.

The two men had been together since they had met at age fifteen; over those first years their friendship had turned into love and for eighteen years they had faced the struggle of being a same gender couple in a disapproving world.  They had confronted each challenge and found a way around it, and still remained steadfast despite family objections, despite being ostracized from their church, despite many of their friends turning their backs on them, despite hateful political campaigns to tear couples like them apart, and despite an attack by bigots that had left Adam with a long scar on the back of his head where a bat had almost ended his life. They had learned to become strong together against the vicious words they heard every day that sold lies about their kind to people looking for someone to hate. They had learned to rely on each other rather than parents, sisters or brothers, whose “love” was always conditional upon them giving each other up. At twenty-three, they had exchanged vows in a small private ceremony, but no family member had attended….

To read the rest of the story, see the link to The Twilight Mirror and the New Dawn by Jordan Amar.

© 2021 Eschate