Where I Belong

Prologue Travel mug in hand, Charlotte Ellison walked to her car while admiring the beautiful early summer morning. As she opened the door of her silver sedan, Charlotte saw the folded sheet of yellow lined paper on the front seat and sighed. She’d hoped she could hold everything together until he left for college in the fall, but he didn’t even wait for graduation. Her eyes filled with tears as she opened the note and prayed for the son she never quite understood. Mama, By the time you read this, I’ll already be far away from Ridgefield. I’m gay and that’s not going to change. You will never accept it and Dad is going to throw me out as soon as I turn eighteen anyway. Besides, no one in town will let me get past what happened. I’m sorry I’ll never be the son you wanted. Love, Harper PS—Please tell Maisy I love her and I’m sorry. Harper’s mother jammed the paper into her purse and drove to work wishing she the power to change how things turned out. Charlotte would talk to her daughter, but not until everything settled. She couldn’t shield her son, but she would shelter her daughter as much as possible. It wasn’t nearly enough, but it was all that remained. * * * * Leaving home turned out to be anticlimactic. Harper waited for his parents to go to bed before tossing a couple suitcases, his guitar, and a box of stuff he wasn’t ready to leave behind into the back of his ten-year-old hatchback and driving away. There was no fight or tearful goodbye, he just packed his s**t and disappeared without a single word. After a short night at a scary motel near the highway, Harper was pumping gas at a station just outside of Hickory, well on his way out of North Carolina, when his mother found his note. He didn’t have much of a plan beyond getting to Nashville, but with the money he’d saved for college, he’d be okay for a while. The prospect of escaping the memories holding him hostage at home pulled Harper down the highway towards a new future, wide open and full of hope.