The Wonderful Queer Story of Racetrack Higgins

The Story of Jack Kelly

Oooooooooohh Jack Kelly's backstoryyyyyyyy

Enjoy! :)

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Warning: transphobia, dysphoria, unsafe binding (plus unsafe situations--I don't know how else to describe it)

Jack Kelly was never fond of the name he had throughout his childhood. It never sat right with him. It didn't fit him. Not that he could tell anyone that. No one would believe him.

He doesn't have the fondest memories of his childhood. His mother died before he lived half a decade. His father wasn't the kindest soul. Money was tight and food was scarce.

But somehow, the two of them got by.

He still didn't feel right though.

It was his ninth birthday when he told his father that he didn't want to be a girl anymore. He was scared. Really scared. How would his father react?

For awhile, his father sat there in silence. Then, he told his son that he could start going by Francis instead of Frances, and wear boys' clothes--temporarily. He figured that this was something that might be grown out of. 

(A/N: common misconception among adults/parents/people in general. Identifying as trans is NOT a phase. Maybe you change your mind and decide that there's a different term that fits better. Having any queer/gender-non-conforming identity is NOT a phase.)

Young Jack, not knowing about all the thoughts going on in his father's mind, was absolutely thrilled. Even if it was going to be for a few months. He was a boy. No one could take that away from him.

The name Francis wasn't right, though. Making it a masculine name instead of a feminine name was...better...but it wasn't what fit. He didn't particularly care; as long as he got to live like this.

For a little over a year, it was just like this: a father-son duo against the world.

Until it all fell apart.

A lot of bad things went down.

His father got in a fight.

He was only trying to protect his only son.

But there were some things in his history that wouldn't just vanish into thin air.

Jack doesn't remember much about that day, aside from learning that his father was going to prison. That was when he learned that he would never see him again.

That was when New York began to lose its appeal.

He held on to a brochure his father gave him not too long before, one with cowboys on the cover advertising a magical faraway land known as Santa Fe. His father promised to take him there one day. Now Jack vowed that he would make it there to escape New York and all the bad memories for good. He had no clue if anyone or anything was waiting for him there, but there had to be something, right?

Seasons go by, with nothing but his dreams of Santa Fe and figuring out his next meal to help him through it all.

Until something goes wrong.

He got caught stealing food. He was sent to the Refuge. He had nothing but his name, a name that didn't even feel right. For as long as he could, he made sure that they only thought of him as a boy.

Until they found out that he wasn't.

The warden would look at him differently after that fact was found out.