"Diaries of My Secrets"

Chapter 1: Full of Secrets

The blue-covered diary was lying on the bed, open to the last page. Lucas always kept it hidden, but today, with a heavy heart, he didn't mind leaving it in plain sight. He sat on the edge of the bed, holding a pen in his hands as silence filled his room.

"Dear diary, I've never had the courage to say this out loud, but I need to put this somewhere, even if no one will ever see it. I... I'm in love with him. And that scares me more than anything else in life."

Lucas took a deep breath, as if writing those words had stolen all the air from the room. He knew that once he wrote something in the diary, it became real, even if it was just between him and the pages.

Since the beginning of the school year, Lucas couldn't get Gabriel out of his head. It wasn't that they were great friends or had long conversations. In fact, they barely spoke to each other. But there was something about Gabriel—maybe his carefree smile, or the way his eyes always seemed to sparkle—that made Lucas want to know him more. However, the city where they lived was not exactly a place where a boy could simply confess that he liked another boy.

The sound of the front door slamming brought Lucas back to reality. It was his mother, coming home from work. He quickly closed the diary and hid it under his pillow. The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs made his heart race. The last secret he wanted anyone to find out was the contents of that diary.

"Lucas, are you there?" Dona Cecília asked, knocking softly on the door. She came in before he could even answer, with the same tired look as always. "Everything okay, son?"

"Yes, mom. I was just doing homework," he lied, forcing a smile.

"Good. Dinner will be ready in an hour." She kissed him on the forehead and left, closing the door behind her. Lucas let out a sigh of relief.

As soon as the house returned to silence, he took out his cell phone and opened social media. Gabriel had posted a new photo with his friends, a party that Lucas had not even known had happened. He was never invited to these things, and honestly, he preferred it that way. Less complications. Less secrets revealed.

But at that moment, looking at Gabriel's photo, he felt a weight forming in his chest. The desire to be part of his life grew every day, and the only way he found to deal with it was by writing in his diary, letting his emotions overflow onto the pages.

When the message from Marina, his best friend since forever, arrived, he hesitated. She knew something was wrong, but Lucas wasn't ready to share this secret with anyone yet.

"I know you've been acting strange lately. Did something happen?", her message said.

Lucas looked at his cell phone, feeling the weight of what was to come. His secrets couldn't stay locked away forever.

He looked at the diary one last time before answering:

"No. Nothing big. Just school stuff."

But he knew that "nothing" was already starting to grow inside him, and at some point, his secrets would have to come out of the pages.