Love Song (LGBTQ+) (COMPLETED)

5. Letter

"Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

"I didn't know we had any vagatarians going here! Lunch is on me!"

Out of nowhere, some kind of box hit my locker and sent various vegetables flying in every direction - including on me. Turning to my left, I was happy to see that nothing got on Grace, who they seemed to entirely miss. Just like I had said, I had no care about what happened to me. If something were to happen to Grace, I would take it, just like I did with the food. They could call me whatever, but they wouldn't have broken me - or her.

"Jesus, you suck! You completely missed the shefags, bro."

"Are you okay, babe?" Grace pulled a carrot out of my hair.

"I'm fine, as long as it didn't hit you." I opened my locker and set a book inside. "I'm not going to let some damn jackasses bother me."

Closing my locker for me, Grace shut it roughly and took my hand as we began to walk towards the math period we shared, which had been one of the two classes we shared.

"Lets go."

+++++

That had been the last day Grace showed up to school. There wasn't a warning, nor had she told me anything about it. I spent weeks calling, texting, and going to her window only to be ignored. It had been as though Grace never existed at all and was only a figment of my imagination, a figment of the craziness I was feeling inside. Was she being home-schooled? Had she moved away, just like she feared?

Winter had come early this year, bringing snow in the middle of July. The shit weather topped off what had been an awful year, a year ruined by people and religion, and the division they brought. Honestly, I was running on empty and time was beginning to wring me dry. When would this waiting for Grace pay off, when would the invested time be returned? Was Grace ever going to come back into my life? Maybe it really was over.

Picking up my phone, I sent a single text. "Please. I need to know you're okay. Just give me one word."

A heavy sigh escaped my mouth, following me as I made my way out of my room and into the bathroom. Turning the water on, I began to strip, still thinking of Grace and anything I was able to do. Of course, I was a child. That meant I had no place to comment or even intervene on parenting, and the right or wrongs of it, nor would I have been taken seriously. Even if I had wanted to be treated like an adult, they would still see me as a kid with no valid opinion. An invalid.

I got into the shower, letting the water soak into me as I stood with my eyes closed. In that darkness of my closed eyes, I only saw her. I only saw images of her, the images of times we spent together. Every last memory of her was so vivid, so colorful and real. All we ever did was lie around and talk, among other lecherous activities, but it had always been fun. As long as it was with her, I was fine with anything.

Everyone has had that person in their life where they can't imagine them not in it. That person for me had been Grace, only amplified times ten. I wanted to be with her every moment I could, and I wanted to know her every move. Everything she felt was something I felt. Maybe I was weird, but that was how I was. That was my version of love, at least for her.

Nobody seemed to understand that I wasn't being a child, nor was I being immature. I was obsessed, and I hadn't planned on fooling myself out of that idea, either. Every thought was Grace, and every breath was Grace. She brightened the world around me and she made me feel like it was okay to make a mistake. I wasn't judged because I said something dumb or looked stupid. With her, my own self-consciousness had become nothing but a thing. With her, I was comfortable with who I was. I wasn't afraid to be me. What that was, exactly? I wasn't quite sure.