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Mom whimpered to Eryn. “Go to your room. Now.”
Eryn didn’t move. She was eighteen and smarter than all four of us put together.
Michael seemed on the verge of a killing rage, but Dad only needed a hint of suggestion for his suspicions to rise.
“Is this true, Son? Is this what they do?” I adored how easy it was to spook his Puritan ass.
“Of course not,” Michael spat. “He’s possessed!”
I stood up abruptly, glancing at my little sister. I’m sorry, I mouthed before looking at Dad. “I’m not possessed,” I said. “But I am bisexual.”
Dad choked and Mom cried out like I’d stabbed her. Michael wore such a victorious smirk that it turned my stomach.
After a moment of silence, I felt something touch my hand. Something damp and cool. When her fingers twined with mine, I knew that my sister was holding my hand, a cold sweat breaking out over us both. Dad’s fury was fading and he began shaking his head.
“You are confused, Sebastian,” he pleaded. “You’re not the first to be confused. There are ways…there are ways, Son. We can help you. If you just turn back to the Light, we can…”
“Give me a break,” I begged, my voice tight as Eryn’s hand squeezed mine harder. “I’m not going to some sick conversion camp run by psychos. You’ve been poisoning me long enough. I am bisexual. I love girls. I love guys. I love one in particular more than I love life itself. And I lost him because of you. You turned me into a freak. You wore me down until nothing was left. You,” I snapped, pointing my finger at Dad. “And you.” My finger cut through the air to find my mom.
“You said it yourself,” Dad said, hopeful for some fucking reason. “You can find a nice girl. Everything else…it’s the Devil’s work, Sebastian. You have to see. He’s twisting your heart and your mind. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I was done. Squeezing my sister’s hand one more time, I pulled away from the dining table. I didn’t know what my next move was, but I knew I couldn’t stay here anymore. “That’s not how anything works, Dad,” I whispered and turned away from them.
“Eryn. Go to your room. Adults are talking.” Michael was snappy as fuck, but Eryn obeyed, not because she had to but because she followed me out of the dining room.
Protests from Mom reached me, whimpering pleas for me to change my mind, and Dad was threatening vaguely to cut me off. As if I didn’t expect that already.
Finally, as I reached the top of the stairs, the true weight of what I had given up crashed down upon me. It was heavy enough to crush me, to flatten me, to push me tumbling down the stairs. I had given up the only light in my life because those people downstairs had spent their lives making me feel worthless.
So what if I didn’t score a contract? So what if I didn’t have an agent or good results? Plenty of people were unremarkable and still deserved love. Why shouldn’t I?
Eryn caught up with me in the hallway. “You better go. Mr. Morgan’s home by now. He’ll let you stay there, I’m sure.”
“I can’t go to Tyler’s place,” I whispered as I hugged my sister with more gratitude welling in me than I could pour into words.
“I’ve got some cash,” she said. “You can get a motel room.”
“Don’t worry about me,” I said. “I’ll go back to Northwood. I’ve got my place there.”
“And until then?” she asked.
I shook my head. “I’ve got it all figured out.” I held her close to hide my face and all the doubts. I will be sleeping on a bench tonight. I might go to the airport, somehow, and wait for the earliest flight, hoping I could afford the price difference and exchange my ticket. I had no plan, but I had the sense of freedom I hadn’t felt before. “You take care of yourself,” I whispered.
Eryn snorted. “They don’t care what I do so long as the dishes are done.”
I gritted my teeth.
“It’s a good thing,” Eryn promised. “They won’t stop me from leaving when I enroll somewhere.”
“I’ll help you,” I said, and I meant it as a promise. “I’ll find a way.”
“You should go before they lock all the doors,” Eryn whispered.
They wouldn’t, I thought, and then I realized I knew nothing about those people there. They might as well try and lock me up until I was well and truly straightened out.
I kissed my sister on the cheek and rushed into my room. The few things I brought with me were scattered on the chair and the bed. I stuffed them into my duffel messily and hurried out of the house. Mom’s whimpers and sobs reached me from the dining room and Dad was lecturing them about the virtues and sins. As usual. Eryn saw me out, giving me one last hug before pushing me away and hurrying back inside.
Once I crossed the front yard to the street, I knew what I wanted to do next. I knew what I always wanted. There was no place on this planet where I wanted to be more than next to Tyler. I didn’t care where so long as it was next to him.
