The Sprout

LGBT History Month: My Short Story

Postiwyd gan Jeff the Fridge o Caerdydd - Cyhoeddwyd ar 17/02/2012 am 13:39
4 sylwadau » - Tagiwyd fel Ysgrifennu Creadigol, Diwylliant, Materion Cyfoes

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Author's Note: This is a story made half out of real life experiences and half out of my own imagination. Any characters that resemble people, living or dead are entirely coincidental. Enjoy!

Our fingers entwine and foreheads meet as we stare into each other’s eyes.

“Do you love me?” She whispers.

“Always.” I reply.

“How long will we be together?” She asks again.

“Always.” I whisper in her ear. She giggles, planting a kiss on my cheek before we fully embrace and roll around in the grassy meadow, laughing uncontrollably.

Six Months Later

I stare at her crumpled picture in my hand and a tear rolls out of my eye. The water splashes onto her features and I struggle to hold back my despair. Then Mathew suddenly appears at my shoulder and I hastily shove the picture into my jeans pocket. Mat laughs and pulls the picture out of my hand but goes silent as he realise who’s in the picture.

“Do you still love her?” He says, turning to face me.

“Occasionally...” I trail off, unsure of what to say.

Mat sighs, “You both knew you no longer wanted to be together, that you both had started to like other people, you to me and her to Michael. You both decided on the break up. It was for the best.”

“I guess.” I mumble as Mat pulls me off the bench and plants a kiss on my cheek.

“C’mon, let’s get you home, you confused, love struck puppy!” Mat tells me cheerfully and I smile for the first time that day.

I slip my key into the door and walk into my house. I shout a hello and my mum comes walking down the stairs in her running gear.

“Hello boys, I won’t be here long, going running with Maggie in fifteen minutes. I left money of you to go to the show on the kitchen table. Hope you have fun there!” We thank her as we go into the kitchen and make ourselves hot chocolate. Once they are down, we head into the living room and Mat slumps down on the sofa whilst I walk over to the DVD cabinet. I take out two DVDs and turn around to Mathew.

“Walking Dead Season One or Doctor Who Series Three?” I ask him. He ponders for a moment before choosing Walking Dead. I bend down to put the DVD in to the player then slump down next to Mat and wrap my arms around him, leaning my head on his shoulder. My older brother walks in, unscrewing the lid off a beer, then looks at us.

“Get a room, boys,” he scowls to us, “what you watching?”

“Walking Dead.” We reply at the same time.

“Sweet!” My brother slumps down onto the other sofa, taking a swig from his beer as the title screen pops up on the TV, “What time you leaving for the show?”

“Seven,” I reply, “Simon’s gonna pick us up a bit earlier so he can set up his kit”

“Fine,” my brother says, “You gonna do a review for TheSprout of it?”

“Probs, but it ends at ten, so I’ll head to bed when I get back.”

“Oh, by the way, Betsan called. You still ignoring her?”

I don’t reply.

-------------

“One child ticket please.” I tell the women behind the counter and hand her the money. I see Mat in his costume talking with the other cast member. He catches my eye then walks over with a broad smile on his face.

“You took your time,” he pouts, “you disappeared as soon as we got here.”

“Sorry, I was helping out Simon...” I trail off as I spot someone over Mat’s shoulder. He quickly notices and moves to block my view.

“Hey, you’ll never guess who’s doing the lighting for the show?”

“Who?”

“Joe Fletch. Y’know, that person from the film course we did during the summer.” A women walks onto the stage and calls the cast backstage.

“See you on stage.” I call to Mat as he runs to get on stage. He blows a kiss to me and I walk over to the lights at the back of the hall. Joe spots me first and cracks into a huge grin.

“All right, Andy!” He calls to me and give each other a huge bear hug, “You must be the boy Mat keeps boasting about!”

“Sounds like me!” I grin breaking off from the hug, “Haven’t seen you since Beth’s. What have you been doing since then?”

“Mostly this. We’ve been having rehearsals pretty much every weekend since the New Year.” The overture starts to play and I wave goodbye to Joe and take my seat.

I have the niggling feeling that I’m being watched throughout the show, but every time I turn around, I see someone diving behind the people behind me. I scan the people at half time looking for whoever must be looking at me, fully knowing who it is. Mat pulls me out of my search when he’s let out of the back stage rooms.

“I saw her as well.” He says through a mouth of Twix, “I knew her sister was in the show, but I doubted she would actually come. Doesn’t seem like something she would come to.” I nod in agreement just as I hear my mobile ring.

“Hello?” I hear my brothers’ voice on the other side.

“Bad news, kid” He says, “Mum’s been called to do work in the hospital. You gonna have to spend the night at dad’s.” I swear colourfully. “Language, little bro!” My brother puts the phone down. Mat looks at me worriedly.

“Who was that?”

“My bro. We gonna have to spend the night at dad’s.” I visibly see Mat’s face drop, then hear the footsteps behind me. I turn around and see Betsan looking embarrassed behind me.

“Hi.” She mumbles nervously

“Hi.” I reply. She spots Mat in his costume.

“Is this Mathew then?” She scowls, her face showing pure disgust. I nod, and she storms off. I turn to Mat and he shrugs. I pull out her picture from my pocket and tear it into thousands of little pieces.

We walk out of the theatre, discussing our favourite parts from the show. Our talk stops when we see my dad leaning on the hood of his car, lit cigarette in his mouth. He scowls then gets into the car. Mat and I climb into the back, still silent. The silence remains until we reach the apartment.

“You eaten already?” He growls. We both nod vigorously. “Good, now get to bed, the both of you.” We both walk slowly into my small room and undress. With only one bed, we climb under the cover and try to fall asleep. We hear my dad drinking for about another hour before he seemingly slips into a stupor on the couch.

-------------

We wake up at about nine the next day, kept warm in each other’s embrace. It’s at that moment that my dad walks in to wake us up. The look on his face when he sees Mat and I, locked together in each other’s arms, is a mix of shock and horror.

“You’re gay?” He stutters. I nod. “How long?”

“Since the summer.” I can see the indecision in his face.

“Get out!” I start to complain, but he shouts me down, “Get out of my house!” Mat and I start to walk backwards towards the door, then turn around and flee up the road.

Thankfully, my mother’s house wasn't. I knock furiously at the door until my brother comes to the door, looking dazed and only half awake. He instantly awakens when he sees our tear streaked faces.

“Dad found out then?” He questions worriedly. We nod and he lets us in. We sink into the kitchen chairs and he pours us each a bowl of Cheerios. “He was going to find out someday.”

“Yeah, but why today?”

“C’mon,” Mat whispers to me, “let’s see if anything’s on TV.” I get out of my chair and walk into the living room, the feeling of dread that I will never be accepted for whom I am, weighing down on my shoulders.

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