Shane was a boy.
And Shane was very special.
When Shane was little, his family was already falling apart. His father would abuse his older siblings and his mother, and then him. He would never be sober.
They had no money.
"Ignore your father. Smile at school. And most importantly, hide your bruises. Nobody can know what happens here, okay?" His mother would tell him every day before school.
"Okay, Mommy." the sweet little boy would answer, not knowing of anything else.
When Shane was about nine, his fathers friends would hang out at his house.
They would do drugs, drink, and worst of all,
They would abuse Shane, as well.
But not just physically, sometimes even sexually.
"Don't fucking EVER talk about this, okay, kid?" They would spit at him.
Shane would just run into his room and cry, hoping for one day everything would change. He wanted to be a normal kid, and be happy. His mother would always tell him,
"God will save us, he will answer our prayers."
He doubted that.
His father left them when he was 11, although that didn't stop the pain.
All the years of being told to keep to yourself, and to not talk about anything, he couldn't.
He became mentally mute, and also could not be touched by another person without crying and having anxiety.
Everyone at school would bully him, which did not help.
At age 14, he met someone special. Whenever he would see that person, his heart would race and he would smile.
That person was a boy.
His mother was strictly catholic, and would tell him that being gay was a sin and people that were gay are going to hell.
That didn't help.
At age 18, he had money saved up and decided it was time to tell his mother who he really was.
Unable to speak, he wrote it down.
"I am an atheist." was the first thing he wrote.
His mother frowned, but nodded.
"I am gay." he wrote. He was terrified.
His mother read it, then dropped the paper. Then, she slapped him across the face, hard.
"You're going to hell! Get out of my house!" his mother screamed.
He had bought himself a small, but nice, apartment.
He stayed in there for years, now being 25. He was getting groceries delivered to his door and paying for them online. He only got his mail late at night, when no one was around. He worked online, not having to speak or see anyone. He would pitch comedy ideas, and also test out different software when the pay wasn't very good.
The time was 3:00 AM, and he heard no one in the hallways. Perfect time to get his mail.
He quickly speed-walked over to his mail box, fumbling with the key and shaking.
"Would you like some help?" Someone said behind him.
Shane froze and dropped his keys.
He began to shake violently, afraid to turn around.
