I'm Going

Matt

There should have been peace, sitting outside on the patio of my dad's house, working on the sketch of Erica, but there was none to be found. Everything inside of me screamed for me to call her, but fear held me at bay. No, it locked me up, tied me down, forced me into a place of numbness. Where logically I could point to all of it being a bullshit scheme to keep myself from getting hurt, I hated it. Hated myself.

Erica belonged to me, and yet she would become someone else's if I let my fears over not being enough 'man' for her stop me from moving forward, and fast. She was my brother, Damon, in female form. Perfect. Smart and strong, educated and successful. She was everything anyone could want and beyond anything I expected to have, but I was fucking it up completely.

I reached down and brushed my thumb along the sketch, catching the side of her face and smearing the line a little to soften her.

"Much better," I whispered softly as the sun warmed my chilled skin. The weather in