One Shot Short Story collections

Story Six - Have Pride

I walk the path my mother built for me. Be happy. But don't be gay. Be kind. But don't let them see who you are. I worshipped my mother and believed her to be true. I didn't think she could be such a cruel hate-filled person. She never spoke of my father but she called him names that others seemed to get offended by. Maybe he'd made a mistake. Maybe he'd been gay. I was told never to kiss a girl because it was against God and I didn't want him to come down and smite me.

"Hey, is anyone sitting here?" Her voice was sweet as cake and light as a rose. I remember the first time I laid eyes on her and I knew I'd sinned. She was beautiful, as tall as me yet so much more angelic than I could ever hope to be.

"N-No... you can sit here..." I was in grade school and I couldn't understand why my heart had started racing so fast nor why my palms were suddenly sweating. I couldn't breathe and my nerves were going haywire as she took a seat beside me. We watched the film our teacher put on in silence but I was worried she might be able to hear my heart from how loud it was pounding against my chest.

I remember her asking me to be friends after school and I said yes fast. Mother picked me up and glared at my angel. I couldn't understand why. On the drive home my mother wouldn't stop talking about the devil existing in this girl. I didn't understand what was wrong about her rainbow dress or the tips of her blond hair dyed purple.

Mother forbid me from ever speaking to my angel again but I wouldn't have that. I couldn't stay away because I wanted to know more about her. I stayed friends with Angel even as we were nearing the end of high school. Why does everything have to get so complicated in highschool? Angel started dating a girl. I was happy for her. When I went home to tell mother, an excited tone to my voice, she screamed at me and went on another rant about the devil. I didn't understand. From what I had seen of my friends and the world, it wasn't bad to love the same gender. Everyone is equal and we all deserve equal rights. I wanted to kiss Angel since the day I met her but I could never do that for fear of being disowned by the one person who was supposed to love me most.

It wasn't until I was in college that one of my professors told me it was okay to be different. Wanting to kiss a girl wasn't because the devil had snuck inside my head and twisted my thinking. Mr Grosnez always hung a variety of flags on his walls, naming them pansexual, asexual, bisexual, and a great deal other names. I always wondered how he came up with those names.

One day I walked up to him and he smiled, "if it isn't my favorite little wallflower!" He said because I was always sitting in the back fading into the wall. His smile faded when he saw the look on my face. "Are you okay?"

"I was just wondering... is it a sin to want to kiss a girl?"

He blinked in surprise before ruffling my hair. "No, of course not. Caz, never let anyone tell you that being true to yourself is a sin. Have Pride, little wallflower! In this day and age you can be anything you wanna be!" His words that day changed my life and I will never forget them because they were the words my mother should have told me from the start, but she never did.

Have Pride.