Below the Sky

Chapter 17: Lila

Chapter 17: Lila
Thirty minutes earlier

I walked into the barn, a wide smile plastered across my face. What I saw when I entered the building though stopped me dead in my tracks. My entire family was sitting down at the table, staring at me. Every last one of them had a grim, evil look on their faces. Except for Oliver though, his grim looked was touched up with some sympathy.
"What is it?" I asked, moving towards my family.
"Have a seat," Mama showed me a chair at the center of the table. Tentatively, I sat in it.
"We need to talk to you," Papa said.
"Okay," I replied.
"You're relationship with Riana, it's gotten out of hand," Mama added.
My heart stopped dead in my chest. I felt my face pale, and would have rather died than be sitting in that spot right there.
"What do you mean my relationship with Riana has gotten out of hand?" I asked.
"I mean, some of the activities you and Riana participate in, are a little, mature." Papa drew out the last syllable, trying to convey what he meant. I knew though, I knew from the start what they wanted to talk to me about.
"I'm confused, how is what me and Riana like to do as good friends, too mature?" I tried to mask my panic, thinking I could trick Papa into saying something stupid.
"I mean, I know you're in a sexual relationship with Riana," Papa said. My jaw dropped open, and I thought that Maya and Oliver were also sitting here, listening to this conversation. Still, I was too dumbstruck to really care about my siblings.
"Why do you think that?" I asked. My voice quivered though, surely giving away how scared I was at that moment.
"We saw you and Riana, doing things, today," Papa said.
I sat there, looking like a complete fool, wanting to die. This was not only embarrassing, but absolutely horrifying. I supposed that me and Riana would eventually come forward with our relationship, but I didn't think that this would be how it would happen.
Suddenly, my blood began to boil with anger. Papa and Mama barely knew me. They didn't know my thoughts and feelings, or how much I yearned for Riana.
Before I knew it, words escaped my mouth. I stood up, "you know what, I am in a sexual relationship with Riana, but I'm also in a romantic one with her. My feelings for Riana aren't too immature for us, and she's twenty years old, and I'm eighteen. We're technically both adults! You do not have any say in what we choose to do with each other in our free time."
"Lila..." Mama tried to calm me down.
"No, don't Lila me Mama!" I yelled out at her, "I know exactly why you're so upset about my relationship with Riana, it's because we're both women. I'm positive that if I was in a sexual relationship with Luke, you wouldn't care. In fact, you would be happy for me, that I was putting myself out there, becoming a woman!"
"Lila stop!" Papa screamed at me. He put out his hands, telling me to calm down. "Maybe it is because you're both women that your relationship is too immature, but either way, I don't like what you girls are doing. It's not right, two women feeling for each other like they should feel for a man. I wish for you and Riana to stop your feelings, and just be friends again. If me and your mother catch you two, promenading, again, we will send Riana home early, and your punishment will be worse than you can ever imagine."
The tears that I had been holding in broke free. I put my hand over my mouth, stifling my sobs, and ran out of the barn. I sprinted away from there, as fast as my legs could carry me. Somehow I made it to the forest, where I sat against a tree, my shaking.
I cried and cried into my hands, until they were covered in snot, and I felt that my body couldn't produce anymore tears. I cried because I knew, that no matter how strongly I felt towards Riana, our love would never be accepted. I knew now, with all my heart, that loving someone of the same sex as you was not okay, and that my parents would never appreciate me just for who I am.
I prayed that no one would find me, and dreaded when I inevitably had to see my family again. At one point I fell asleep, laying on the squishy ground. I was just so sad, so miserable, and exhausted. I was tired of hiding, and I just wish that I could be normal, and that I felt the way I feel towards Riana towards men, like Luke. I'm sure that Papa would have been happy if I was in a relationship with Luke, but there are some things in life you can't control, and this was one of them.