Poem: Felt Like A Broken Promise
Jan. 17th, 2016 09:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shiori_makibaby shiori_makiba
Word Count: 471 words in 64 lines
Based on the prompt by ![[personal profile]](https://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dialecticdreamer for Thank Muse It's Friday January 2016 session.
WARNING!: Deals with homophobia and birth family rejection. Character's current environment is safe and supportive. Please consider your head space before reading.
“Felt Like A Broken Promise”
His destination was across the street
but Montel Dubois found himself hesitating.
It wasn't that the house looked unwelcoming.
Just the opposite.
It was that he wasn't sure of his welcome in that house.
He had called before he had come here and
they said it was okay for him to come but . . .
It was his sister Lakiesha's home and
he hadn't seen her in ten years.
Not since he was fourteen years old
and she was sixteen.
The day she had decided to come out and
the day their parents (and he used the term loosely)
had thrown her away.
He hadn't been able to say good-bye.
It hadn't been allowed.
He hadn't been able to
write or call or e-mail or anything.
They acted like he had never had a big sister.
The only reason he still had pictures was
because he had hidden them.
All because she was gay.
Montel still didn't understand why it mattered
that Lakiesha preferred women.
He had promised himself
that awful day was not going
to be the last time he saw her.
He was going to find her.
He had originally planned to start
as soon as he was out of that house.
But other parts of life had gotten in the way.
He didn't start looking until he was twenty
and every day of those two years
not looking had felt like a broken promise.
It had taken the next four years to find her.
And he was a lucky one.
Far too many people in his situation never find their loved one.
Or they do and it's far too late for anything but regrets.
There are days when he felt sure
he was going to be one of them.
But he wasn't.
Lakiesha was alive and well.
He could see it with his own eyes if
he'd just cross the street and ring the doorbell.
But he was nervous.
The agency that had helped him find her warned him
that his sister wasn't going to be the person he remembered.
No one would be after having the people
who were supposed to love them turn their backs on them.
And a lot can happen in ten years.
“Montel?”
He startled.
He hadn't even noticed someone coming up to him.
Kind of dumb considering
how long he had waiting to see this person.
He had planned to say many things when he saw Lakiesha again.
What came out was, “I'm sorry.”
“For what?” she asked.
“For cutting you out of my life.”
“You didn't cut me out of your life. Our parents did.”
“But I . . .”
“You came. That's what matters.”
Then she smiled and held out her hand, “Come on in and meet my family.”
He took her hand.
