My Home Is With You [LGBT+]

One

I'M STARTLED AWAKE by a loud pounding on the door right outside my room.

My heart skyrockets at the sound and I bury myself under my blanket, trying to ignore the deafening booming rattling the walls. But the knocking is incessant and loud and demanding.

I hear a small creak on the floorboards right outside. I blearily search for my phone on my bed, hand opened wide and palm patting around until I finally find it. I curl my fingers around it and turn on the flashlight, using it to guide me as I stumble out of bed and crack open my door. I immediately see my mom with her finger pressed over her pursed lips as she gets on her tippy toes to peer out the peephole.

"Open up!" A man booms.

Loud.

Apathetic.

I can just see how she pales as she faces me before her eyes land on my dad. I look at him as well and I just know what's going to happen next.

A horror movie.

It's the only way I can describe the gut wrenching feeling that twists my insides.

My older brother appears from his own room then, dark bags under tired eyes, but as soon as he takes in the situation, he's on high alert. Brown eyes completely wide and filled with fear he will deny 'til his last breath.

It's then that we hear children crying and parents screaming as they're dragged out of their homes. With tears stinging my eyes, I turn to my dad and shake my head, but he wraps his hand on the doorknob despite my silent protests and opens the door.

Two men push inside our home rather rudely, immediately asking for documentation and proof of legal entry to the country. My dad raises his hands as he walks to his room and grabs his wallet. He hands over his expired license, face scrunched up in pain.

His license has been expired for over 10 years. It seems his luck has run out.

They ask for valid documentation.

But they already know the answer to that.

With a slow shake of his head he looks at them, pleadingly.

They don't care. They pounce.

"Arrest him."

No, I mouth as the tears I managed to hold back finally fall.

With a firm look my mother hands over her own expired TPS papers. She applied not even two months ago, but she's still waiting for the renewed version, the process dragging on longer than it has ever taken before. And my brother, who was here because of DACA, has no choice but just give himself over.

Because out government couldn't come to a fucking agreement. Because they sided with a fraud.

"No," I whisper hoarsely.

I see my mom hand them over my birth certificate and passport. The men exchange looks as they stare at me before nodding and giving me my papers with a shove.

"Take them away," one of them nods, pushing my dad out the door.

It feels like time stops. But upon seeing my dad stumble I break free from the chains of fear holding me back.

"No!" I scream.

I hurry to reach for my mom's hand as she's dragged out of her home.

It's not fair, damnit!

"IT'S NOT FAIR!"

Someone pushes me back and all I feel is a flare of pain in the back of my head as the world tilts back.

I think I hear her scream.

Her voice thick with anguish.

My name the last thing I hear.

Her tears the last thing I see with her image blurred by my own.

"Oseias!"