The Canary And The Blue Bird.

Chapter 0. Prologue

Scopeview elementary, after school hours, 1981.

"Hahaha! What a loser! Don't touch him though, you might get infected." the voice of a young boy said.

I was 8 years old when this happened. I was thrown to the ground and beaten, for being queer. My inhaler was broken and my glasses were shattered on the cement ground.

I didn't wear glasses because of poor vision, but because I was told I was rather expressionless. I thought that maybe if I wore glasses they wouldn't notice it as much. I didn't understand why this was happening to me. I was exactly like them, the only difference was that I didn't like girls the way they liked girls.

"That's what you get for being queer! You're so gross." the voice of his friend added.

"HEY! What are you doing to him, huh?!" another boy said, running towards them angrily.

"Oh shit-! That's Hunter! Let's get outta here before he gets us." the first boy said.

"See ya, loser." the second boy said, blowing a raspberry at me.

A young boy, with tan skin and dark brown fluffy hair approaches me. I turn away from him in fear. "Hey. Don't turn away, I'm not gonna hurt you, y'know."

Wiping my eyes, I look up at him. I look up at Hunter. "Sorry.. I couldn't stand up for myself again." I sniffed. "It's okay! If those guys didn't run away I would've punched them in the face for sure!" Hunter said, flexing his arm.

"C'mon Jamie, let's go home and get you cleaned up okay? You have a lot of scratches on your knees and elbows." Hunter said, crouching as he reached his hand out to me.

'Jamie.' That's my name. Jamie Thomas.

Hunter was my best friend. Hunter Rodriguez was his full name. He didn't see me as weird, or gross, or 'queer'--as a gay boy. He saw me, for me. Of course, I don't think he knew what the term 'queer' meant just yet. He probably thought it meant something like 'weird' or 'strange', like it did a long time ago. That being said, I didn't really know what it meant either. All I knew is that I didn't want to be what that meant.

Five years later...

Scopeview middle school, at Scopeview airport, August 1986.

"I don't want you to leave. I'll miss you too much.." I cried.

"I'm sorry, Jamie. I don't wanna leave either..but my dad got a new job and we have to go with him." Hunter replied.

He moved to Argentina for his fathers work and to visit his family in their hometown half way through middle school in 1986. Little did I know I wouldn't be in contact with him for almost the next two years. I thought he was never going to come back to Canada. We tried to send each other letters by mail, but I gave up after I started to receive less and less letters as the months went on. Soon, I didn't receive any letters at all. I thought maybe he forgot to reply because he got so busy, or maybe he didn't want to talk to me anymore?

I stopped sending him letters six months after he moved away. It upset me that he didn't reply, but childhood friends don't last forever, do they?

One week.. Two weeks.. A month.. Five months.. A year later. Still, I wait in hopes he comes back to me. My friend. My best friend. My family.

For the next year and a half, I stayed to myself. I didn't reach out to almost anyone. Occasionally I'd get a group of boys asking if I wanted to join them for soccer in the school yard, which I accepted. I wasn't too bad at it either. I'd have the odd girl ask me on a date because 'I looked cute and dateable,' as they said. I always said no however, and that I had a girlfriend already that went to an all girls school. It was a lie. I just made it up so no one would find out I was gay.

The one person I'd really talk to was my older twin sister, Danielle. I told her everything. She was the first person I came out to. 

She was one of the only people I trusted to tell...