LGBTQ+ short story's

Lost and found

Rumours, they're just rumours. You can't really be back, can you? Not after all these years. Not after I've just given up on waiting for you. It's been 10 years since I last saw your face. No matter how many times everyone would tell me you wouldn't come back, I kept waiting. And now I finally listened to them, you decide to keep your promise. 'Asshole' is all I can think. That's an asshole move, you are an asshole.

Now I don't want you to come back anymore. I'm done with you.

26-year-old Marlijn is looking at a picture of Alex and her from when they were young. She's sitting in her childhood bedroom. Despite the cold, a window stands open. Letting in snowflakes before they melt in the remaining heat of the heater. She crouches slightly to not hit her head against the slanted ceiling. 10 years ago Alex and Marlijn broke up. Friends turned lovers, turned strangers when Alex suddenly disappeared all those years ago. Everyone was looking for them back then. Even heartbroken Marlijn despite their broken off relationship. The whole town gossiped about what could've happened to them. About where they went and if they were still alive. After years of no clues, it was declared a cold case. But Marlijn kept searching. Marlijn kept waiting. And finally, after all those years, after the rumours and gossip had finally died down and Marlijn finally gave up on her ex. Everything started again. 'I saw them driving in a car near the ice cream shop'

'They were spotted in the supermarket parking lot'

'I saw them chatting with Jet Verboom.'

That one stung the most. Jet was their mutual friend. It was always them 3 against the world. Until it wasn't. After Alex disappeared, Jet and Marlijn grew apart. Alex was what brought and kept them together. Without them, they were bound to fall apart. It's not like they didn't try, they just had different priorities in life. Marlijns was to find Alex, and Jet's wasn't.

Marlijn caresses her thumb over the picture. She sights.

As she sits in her parents' house, in the small room in the attic, she doubts herself.

What she stupid to give up on them? Everyone believed they were dead, somewhere in a ditch.

Maybe they were. It could be that they were just meaningless rumours, but Marlijn had a feeling that she would get to know the truth real soon.

Her dad calls from downstairs "Marlijn! There's someone at the door for you!".

In a hurry, Marlijn hits her head against the ceiling. She throws the picture on the bed before running downstairs. She fails to see the picture getting caught by the wind in the middle of its fall. It's pulled outside travelling all the way to the one that everybody is always talking about. Alex Jacobs.

Alex sits inside their car. Sunglasses and cap on. They're trying not to be seen.

It's not going very well. In the decade they've been away they forgot how nosy the people in this town were. Every single person who passes by makes a big deal out of directly staring them in the eyes.

Their car is full of things, from blankets and pillows to piles of clothes to cans of food. They have been living in their car for the time they are in town. They need something and they're not leaving without it. Not again. This resulted in them not having showered in a week.

Alex ducks down when they see an all too familiar face across the street from them. They glide down as far as they can. Their cap and shirt slide up in the process. They press their cap over their face.

Jet can not see them. Not until they have everything. When they are ready to disappear again. And not like this, while they're filthy and their hair looks like a bird's nest. Still, they can't help the longing forming in their stomach as they see their old friend past the sides of their cap.