Prologue

A Chapter by Demtrie Elem

I would have never thought my parents would kick me out for being gay. They never showed any negativity to other people who were gay, but I guess that was a lie. A purely cruel and almost evil lie that surrounds them, hidden under their wonderfully rich kindness towards others. It feels like it all started ever since I was born, now look at me… Sixteen, alone on the streets, a drop-out and as my father said a waste of man. However, there is one place that I know where I won’t be judge, my grandma’s place in Florida.

Grandma Vivian knew I was gay and it had been our secret for years, and her friends: Grandma Evelyn and Grandma Rwanda kept my secret too. Whenever I went to Grandma Vivian’s, I felt safe. I ran to the nearest telephone and used the spare change I keep in my pocket and called my grandma. It felt like an eternity waiting for her to answer, but when she did I tried not to burst into tears.

“What is it sweetie?” Grandma answered with her thick southern accent.

“Grandma.” I tried to phrase the next words correctly but all I could do is cry.

“Honey is everything alright?” Grandma’s concerned voice made me tremble more.

“No.”

“They know, don’t they?”

“Yes and I am on the streets.”

“Well sweetie, I am coming up to get you now.”

“No Grandma.”

“But why not, my sweet Warren?”

“Because I am coming to you now in two days I’ll be there.” I knew it would take me more than that but at least I gave her times.

“Alright, but hurry.”

“Ok. Bye grandma, I love you.”

“I love you too and see you soon.”

I hung up and cried on the floor of the toll booth trying to figure out my next move. I took off my bag and walked over to a dry place in the alley and took out my stuff: a wallet with forty bucks and my driver’s license, a shirt, a pair of shorts, my journal, my iPod and charger, and the love note I had written my sophomore year, but never put a name for I knew one day I will find my true love.

I looked at all my things and I began to cry once more and slapped my head for forgetting my Rolex watch. However, I knew time more than anything and had no need for it but I was planning to pawn it to get money. I knew it would be worth a pretty penny but I forgot to get it from my dresser.

Then the idea struck me as the soft droplets seemed to solidify from the dark pre-dawning sky in North Carolina. I quickly repacked all of my belongings and ran to the bus station a few streets down. The woman at the window seemed to hate being there and seemed to have had a rough night.

I smiled and walked slowly up to the window and said, “May I please have a one-way ticket to Miami, Florida?”

“Sure. How long do you wanna take?” She said with a thick Yankee accent.

“Two days.” I said swiftly almost gleefully.

“Fifteen bucks then.”

I handed her the money and she gave a ticket to bus 245-911. Irony, huh? I thought to myself as I looked around the bus station. Then, I saw it across the way and ran to it and almost fell in an oil spill. I made it just as the driver was going to pull away.

The old man gave me a look of curiosity as I walked in. There was no one on the bus as we pulled away. It gave me a chance to relax and find a clean and comfortable seat on the front of the bus. I slumped down and started tear up slightly wishing I had a phone to call grandma but that thought was quickly renounced when a longing to sleep hit me. I took off my bag and placed it on the corner of the seat and laid my long brown hair head hitting the soft part of the bag. After what seemed a perpetual drive to a paradise I fell into an immediate dreamless sleep.