Luna

“No one will ever know the person I am inside. The true me. The girl, the woman. All they see is this… this nothing.”

“You’re not nothing,” I snapped. “You’re a person. You’re Liam.”

“Liam.” He let out a short laugh. “Who’s that? A caricature I’ve created. A puppet, a mime, a cartoon character. I’m this male macho version of a son that Dad has in his head.”

“Forget Dad,” I told him. “What does he matter? You don’t have to play baseball, okay?”

Liam closed his eyes and lowered his chin to his chest. “I need to let her out,
Re.”

“What do you mean? How?”

“I’m strangling her. She’s not the one I want to eliminate. All this suppressing and holding her down, keeping her caged, perpetuating this fraud, this sham. I can’t do it anymore.” He shook his head. “I can’t.” He raised his chin and looked at me. “It won’t go away. No matter how much I wish, or pray, she’s always with me. She is me. I am her. I want to be her. I want to be Luna.”

“You are,” I said. “You can be.”

“No.” He blinked. “I mean all the time. I want to be free. I want to transition.” Transition? He’d never used that word. Transition meant change. Like, move from one place to another. But how? Where?