Prologue

Hello, my name is Jonathan Jones, and I have a problem.  Well most people wouldn’t consider it a problem, but my family is not like most people.  I am gay, and I haven’t told my parents.  I have even told my close friends, but no one else.  Sometimes it’s still hard for me to deal with myself.  Why does it have to be me?  Why do I have to be the gay kid that has insane parents?  It’s not lot I’m hurting anyone; but who knows?  Maybe they won’t react like that, but I’d rather not find out.

My parents always taught me to be the academic achiever in school.  Well, they basically told me to get straight-A’s or find my own place.  Our relationship has always been more of a business deal than anything.  We don’t talk much, only when someone wants something.  It’s a pretty sad relationship, but I don’t think I could live any other way.

So at school, I’ve always been the straight-A nerd that no one knows. I’ve always been that really smart kid that doesn’t say anything in class.  I excel in everything but sports, and I play the cello in orchestra.  I’ve known that I was gay since I was eleven, see that’s when I found out what gay really meant.  My parents basically sat me down and told me what it was.  They told me that it was disgusting and that if they ever found me hanging around any gay people, they would ground me for a month.  I didn’t think I was gay as soon as they told me that, it took a while for it to sink in.  I thought about it for a long time.  Honestly, I couldn’t picture myself with a woman; it didn’t fit into the picture.

Anyways, I went through all of middle school without saying a thing about my orientation.  I didn’t have many friends in middle school; most people thought that there was something wrong with me.  As a result, kids would steal my stuff and write things about me.  They would also throw stuff at me when I walked through the halls.   The teachers saw it happening, but didn’t care enough to do anything.  Let’s just say those where the years when my parents found a noose in my bedroom and sent me to the mental hospital for four months.  I told people I was gay there, and they were all very accepting of me.  For the first time in my life I felt like I belonged somewhere.  It was at Sunnyside Mental Hospital where I met Paul.

Paul was the nicest guy I ever met, and he was gay too.  I’d like to think that in those four months we fell in love.  We spent most of our time together, mostly talking about our lives and how useless we felt.  He made me feel like I was worth something for once.  He made me fly.  So how come we’re not together anymore?  Well, hospital staff found us having sex in one of the bathrooms.  Apparently that’s against hospital rules.  So they kicked both of us out, but I had to beg them not to tell my parents why I was kicked out.   They told my folks that I was kicked out for starting a fight.  It was a much simpler reason and a much less difficult one to explain.

After I left, I couldn’t keep in touch with Paul or else my parents would find out what really happened.  It wasn’t until a few weeks later that I heard about him.  There was an article in the newspaper about a boy from one of the surrounding towns committing suicide.  His name was Paul.  He died on March 14; two days after my birthday.  I had never cried so much in my entire life.  I don’t know why he killed himself, and I guess I’ll never know.

This is my life.  It is completely screwed up, completely filled with sadness.  I am here to tell you about it.  I am here to tell you what it’s like for kids like me, so maybe for the next gay guy, or girl for that matter, life will be easier.  It’s simple really,  treat us like everyone else because you can’t judge a person until you’ve walked in their shoes or whatever that stupid saying is.

Reviews

[dreamer :)]

This is such an amazing story. I loved it so much, I just completely stopped what I was doing I read this over and over and over! I really felt like Jonathan was a part of my life, like I actually know him, and like you really didn't describe him and yet there was such depth to his character. It was perfect and I can't wait for you to finish this story. When you said that Paul committed suicide, it gave this story a huge twist which threw the story on such another track, it turned this story from "that's sad" to "oh my God this is such an amazing story it should be published". You really have to write more about this because it was such a fantastic read. And that's just the prologue! Don't change a thing because it was perfect, but in the first paragraph there was a typo. You said "lot I'm hurting anyone" and I think you meant "like I'm hurting anyone". That was just a simple mistake that didn't change how I feel about your writing or this story. Fantastic! 100/100

[Joshua Donahue]

I really enjoyed this. It touches the "BIG ISSUE" that many teenagers face in their lives. And it not only deals with sexuality, but taunting and teasing. But I ddin't like how you explained how his parents told him what being "gay" meant because it made it sound like his parents basically told him he was gay so he decided he was gay. and i dont understand why a mental hospital would kick someone out for having sex with someone else because it IS a mental hospital meant to help people. but a very nice write. cant wait to read more!!!

[.]

"It’s simple really, treat us like everyone else because you can’t judge a person until you’ve walked in their shoes or whatever that stupid saying is."

{well expressed and written
---about being judged---
...gay or straight-great write}

james:-)

[Dream Weaver]

Besides a couple of typos, this is a very good story.
It shows how hard it is to be gay and the struggles
with family and some friends. Nice work....

[Cassiopia Summers]

I couldn't agree more. Really. I understand this.