The Holy Ground

Denise revelled in the limelight. She changed her status to in a relationship with the solemnity of one striking down unjust legislation. I was promoted to wallpaper on her phone. I walked the shadow of the uncanny valley of Sunday dinner with her parents. They weren't that much older than me. At times, her mother seemed to be struggling to hold it together in the face of the cosmic horror of the spectre I represented. Why does everyone think everything has to be about them all the time?

But I had her. I had her unconditional love. It was terrifying for someone who'd spent their life striving after invisibility. At last, I got the gist of the word know, in its biblical sense. She knew me like I'd never been known. Inevitably, there would be times when she'd be repulsed by what she beheld but that was all a part of it. Love is being unashamed of being weak enough to forgive and move on. She taught me that.