Patrice made her way down the sidewalk on her usual walk to the grocer. Only four buildings down from her apartment building, it is one of the few places in the city where she can comfortably walk to in her old age. From beneath her sun hat Patrice could see the deep blue awnings of the local grocer granting shade to containers of fresh produce that sat by the door. Patrice stopped to smell the flowers that sat in front of the grocer's and considered buying some for herself. As she opened the door of the grocer she was welcomed with a pleasant breeze of cool air that washed away the sticky summer heat. She entered the store and was met with an unfamiliar greeting. A small white dog took her by surprise, she never saw it coming. A young woman called out “Cream!” And rushed over to grab the dog that was standing with two paws on Patrice’s leg. “I’m so sorry ma’am, he slipped out of his leash.” She picked up her dog and hoped that she hadn’t upset the elderly lady.

    As I got home an abnormal silence hit me like the burst of golden light; the kind that blinds you when you drive over the crest of a hill and the sun is going down. The house was dark even though normally my parents would be preparing dinner. I thought about calling to them as I made my way inside, but my voice caught in my throat. The semi-darkness ate at the logical part of my mind that knew it was irrational to think anything was wrong. I held onto my house key so tightly it imprinted its shape on my palm.

    “Surprise!” The living room light flashed on to reveal my parents, siblings, and friends rising from their hiding places behind the furniture. Streamers cascaded from the chandelier in a waterfall of pastel crepe paper.  A large, white cake decked with sky blue flowers held court from the card table in the center of the room where the cat couldn’t reach it. I swallowed my former anxiety and allowed myself to smile.

A big bucket of dirty mop water was dumped onto her head. She stood there, sopping wet and in shock. What just happened?

The students in the hallway laughed and took videos. Lesbian, bitch, fag and some much more fouler names were all she could hear. She knew that she would be a Youtube star for “getting what she deserved”; she knew that she would indefinitely become the laughingstock of the school.

When she came out as a lesbian, she expected there to be some recoil that she thought she could handle. She never expected so much acrimony and resentment to be thrown her way.

She never saw it coming. Not the storm that developed too quickly over her. The twister of misery sucked her in and took her breath away. Most of the time she felt she couldn’t breathe; all she could hear was the loud roar of the wind that carried rumors and laughs. The debris of the storm were insults that struck her through the heart.

After an enchanting fall day

She will soon go her own way

Held by her father who’s ever so loving

…She never saw it coming…

The only thing that they could see was blinding light

That was the last of her father, right then, that night

…She never saw it coming…

They both never saw the car progressing

Windshield splintering, and brakes protesting

She was only a daughter of her dearest father

Now she feels like a fish in a body of water

…She had never saw it coming…

The only thing that she could see was people wearing black

This was the only thing she would want to turn back

How sad it would be to go to your father’s burying

The sad burden that the pallbearers are carrying

Kneeling next to the head stone for her father

Dripping tears, as things go, she was his daughter