After graduating from high school, Mathew sets out to do a two-year missionary service like everyone else his age.
Mathew thought that his only problem would be him adjusting to the city as someone who's lived in a farming town all his life. he didn...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Everyone's eyes were on me as I walked into the station. Nath had come along with me, but I had convinced him to wait outside in the car as I went about gathering my things. Hallways would go silent whenever I walked past people, and most of them looked wary, and maybe cold.
When I made it to the room I used to share with Sam I took a deep breath, biting down on my bottom lip before saying a small prayer.
I guess I was nervous. I haven't spoken to Sam in a while. I let myself reach out for the doorknob before turning it and pushing the door open. The room was empty, and Sam was nowhere in sight. I let out the breath I had been holding before walking into the room and heading for my bed. I rose a brow in confusion when I spotted a pamphlet with a book on my bed. I reached for it, and it took a few seconds for me to realize what it was. I tossed it back to the bed in irritation before I went about packing the stuff on my desk, bed drawers, and cupboards.
"A pamphlet suggesting a counselor, great," the irony in my voice could cut through the tense atmosphere in the whole station as I packed. I know the teaching for being gay and Mormon — celibacy, and teachings on how to maintain a heterosexual marriage in the future — I couldn't do what it asked, and I couldn't believe I thought it was such an easy and simple solution before I was the center of concern. That was what was happening with Sam and Olivia. They thought they were helping, but they really weren't. They couldn't understand.
Earlier in the morning, I had talked to my mother. She said she reached out to the station, but they couldn't change their minds on things. I was excommunicated, and I had to deal with that since I was resisting 'help.' Yes, I was free to do as I pleased now, but it stung to know that I was being removed like a nuisance or infection.
"Hey." I turned at the sound of the familiar voice only to see Olivia standing by the door. Her red hair was up in a high bun today, and she was in one of her floral dresses that hung just below her knees. "You're not taking that with you?" she asked, and I followed her eyes to the pamphlet on my bed. I looked away, packing up the items on my bedside table.
"You don't have to do this you know. You just need to agree to get counseling," she said. I looked over at her again, and then away from her. I wasn't in the mood to entertain her words. I went about zipping up the bag I had come with. It was one of Nathaniel's work rucksack. It was now filled with my clothes, books, and other belongings. I was really saying goodbye to this place and in extension all I've ever known.
Getting up from the floor, I lifted the bag before making for the door. Olivia didn't step aside. She stared at me straight in the face. She was about the same height as me.
I looked down at my feet as I let out a sigh. "Please step aside," I asked in a firm voice. I didn't want to fight with Olivia. Or rather, I didn't want to leave here and remember my last encounter with her being a negative one. She was one of the few friends I really talked to, and even though it hurt that she didn't understand, I didn't want to hold it against her.
