Dylan has recently come out of the closet in his second year at college. With little experience and luck with guys, his best friend decides to set him up on a blind date. But when he arrives at the theme park, the last person he expected to see was...
"We should talk," Simon says, his arms folded and a curious look on his face. I step closer but he holds out his hand defensively, then glances around at the people still lingering around us. "Not here, we should find somewhere private. No doubt someone's told the park security what you did, we're lucky we haven't been kicked out yet."
"Y-yeah ok... is there anywhere on that map we can go?" I ask, suggesting to his phone. He pulls it out, and searches for a location, finally nodding and tucking his phone back into his pocket.
"Follow me," he says simply, walking past me briskly not offering even a second glance.
I do as he says, and follow him through the park in silence. There's a peculiar aura coming from him, and no matter how much I want to run up beside him and apologise and explain, I keep my distance. We walk past a huge wooden coaster that jolts me in surprise as flames roar out of a huge ram head construct. I'm not sure what's more terrifying, riding a rollercoaster straight out of a satanic nightmare, or this impending conversation with Simon.
He suddenly ducks into a side path, and I recognise it as the one we walked earlier that day. But instead of heading left to the Dark Forest, he turns right towards a small opening. The canopy of trees shaded out most of the daylight, but the odd ray of light broke through the branches and leaves as beacons to finally announce the arrival of the sun on such a grey day.
Suddenly, the trees part and a small stone building with walls of glass comes into view. It reminds me of a Victorian conservatory, with glass domes on the roof. Simon stops, glancing around to check if we're alone. Once satisfied, he sighs deeply and looks across to me for the first time. "Why?" is all he says, defeat laced into his voice.
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"Why what?" I croak out, my throat becoming coarse.
"Why did you ask me to stay? What was the point of all this... Why am I still here?" he asks, his arms and chest deflating.
"Because..." I begin, but falter as my reasoning feels more and more selfish the longer I think on it. "Because I wanted to show you that I've changed. I wanted the opportunity to prove to you, and myself, that I've grown. That I'm not the person I used to be."
"And for a second I thought you had," he replies, gazing down at the ground. "But then what you did to those guys, it reminded me of all the shit you did back then. It reminded me of that day, in the park."
"Si-" I whisper, but he motions for me to be quiet. I've never felt powerless before, but in this moment every bit of bravado and self-worth rushed out of me like a burst dam.
"There's something you need to hear, and I don't care how hard this is going to be for both of us... but I need to say this," he says, breathing in deeply. "Before high school I was a bubbly, carefree kid much like the one you were speaking to earlier. But everything I was, everything I loved to do, you and your friends took from me. I was petrified to be who I was, because I knew it painted me as a target. Not that it mattered, because you still saw me as nothing more than a punching bag."
