My Best Gift
This gift cannot be bought in any store. It does not have a price. It has a heart that opened its arms to me. Opened its arms when it didn't have to. This gift accepted me as its own, and continues to love me despite the lack of blood relation. It makes me feel safe and warm. It looks on me with care and affection. One of my platonic soulmates is a part of it; someone who is as close as a sibling. It gave me a home. This gift is something that cannot be replaced. They're my extended family.
Living
Living is hard to do. We can all agree on that. What do you do when you don't know what you want or know who you are? Do you just choose an identity, because yours was buried so deep below the surface that it might be gone?
These are questions I am always living with and they always send me down rabbit holes. I've thought before that I might be something, but I don't know because everyone always told me who I am. Do I have any say in who I am or have the right to know me? I don't know how to respond to situations normally because everyone always told me what to feel. I 'feel' through what others have told me about feelings. I was told how I was supposed to respond to certain situations and now my brain makes it out to as a box to be checked. 'I did the proper emotion. Are you happy now?'
I rarely get the chance to just exist for a moment to try and listen to myself. Apparently my brain thinks everyone knows me better than I know myself. And people expect me to know how to live by myself and with myself.
Christmas Time Is Here
Why must this time always be stressful?
Is it because I don't know what I want for Christmas?
Or is it because I don't know what to get someone else?
It is all of this wrapped up with a bow.
Plus my parents are divorced and both of them want to have me for Christmas morning.
It's always on me to break the tie.
How do you choose without breaking somebody's heart?
I love them both, but I can't be in two places at once.
Will my dad be mad if I choose my mom?
Or will my mom be mad if I choose my dad?
This is my yearly Christmas tradition.
Having to choose one of my parents for Christmas morning.
Life After The Dark
BOOOOOOOM!
Carlton ducks for cover around the corner of another building. His ears won't stop ringing, but he can't bring himself to look at the aftermath until his hearing comes back.
Minutes pass and his ears stop ringing. He slowly makes his way onto the empty street. The small-town bar was barely standing, and smoke continued to billow through the windows. Unsure of what caused the explosion, Carlton treaded carefully as he investigated. No sound came from inside the building, so it couldn't have been a demon summoning. A demon could never be this quiet.
A soot covered figure makes its way to the doorway, letting out a cough as they walk through the smoke.
"Are you hurt?" inquires Carlton. The figure steps out into the fresh air and lets out a couple of huge coughs. They try to wipe the soot from their eyes, without much success. "Can you hear me?"
The figure successfully wipes their eyes and looks at Carlton. A shocked look crosses their face.
"Carlton?"
"Ace?" Carlton brings his hands to cup his boyfriends face. "How are you here? The portal closed behind you."
"I wish I could tell you. One minute I was being chased through a forest, the next minute here." Ace croaks. He coughs up some soot.
"Let's get you some water and a long shower. Before we go, I do have to ask what happened in the bar."
"I panicked. Didn't recognize it and threw a fireball. Unfortunately, I threw it right at the alcohol."
{Next Section} [Not Next Chapter]
"Every time I open my eyes I expect you to be gone and for everything to have been a dream."
Ace looks at Carlton with a sad look in his eyes. Carlton kneels on the bathroom floor in front of him, while Ace sits on the toilet. A pile of dirty wash clothes lays around him. Ace brings a hand up and runs it through Carlton's hair, brushing it behind his ear. Carlton leans into the touch desperately, having been deprived of it for months.
"I'm not leaving you ever again." Ace reassures.
"Not even to go to the bathroom?" jokes Carlton.
"Nope. We are gonna be attached at the hip forever." Ace says with a mock threatening laugh.
"I think I can live with that"
Ace shifts closer to Carlton and hesitantly leans into Carlton's space. Carlton welcomes him, and closes his eyes as he nuzzles his face into Ace's cheek. He makes no move to take it further; he just takes in Ace's presence. Ace gives a small little smile at this action and gives Carlton a quick kiss. He presses his forehead to Carlton's.
The two just hold each other close. Until Carlton breaks the silence.
"You're my entire world you know. The only thing that keeps my heart beating."
"And I don't feel complete unless I am with you." Carlton opens his eyes and smiles at this revelation from Ace.
"Please don't leave me again"
"Never." promises Ace.
Turkey Season
Would you like cranberry sauce on your turkey? No thank you. It's about time for you to get married, have you found a boyfriend yet? I don't want a boyfriend. Then how are you going to have kids? Adoption; plenty of kids in the system. I want you to have my grandbabies. Well I'm not sure if that's what I want, so we're gonna leave this alone. Why are you always trying to hurt me?! Don't my needs matter?! Yes mom, but- You don't care about me! I'm not gonna have this same conversation every family holiday. Okay, mom? Please.
No Light
I can hear him.
He's stomping down the hallway.
SLAM!
My breath stops.
He's in the room with me.
STOMP!STOMP!STOMP!
His footsteps are getting closer to my hiding place. Oh I wish I could see, but I must keep the door closed and myself covered. I don't want him to find me.
CRASH!
There goes a lamp. Maybe a mirror.
I would laugh at my own thoughts like this usually. I wish I could now.
STOMP!STOMP!
CREEEEK!
No. Please god no. No, no, no!
'There you are. Now that our game is finished, I can have my fun with you.'