David turned his back to the door and swallowed.

  Okay, if this is what I got to do…

  “My name is Raven.” The words came out hoarse. “And I’m here because Francis said… this was a place where people could be honest.”

  No one interrupted him.

  This is insane. I should stop.

  Something shifted behind him.

  It wasn’t a shape at first, just a pressure in the air, a sense of being weighed. A dark fog gathered low and slow, curling inward as if drawn by gravity. Within it, two faint red points glimmered.

  David’s shoulders tightened.

  They’re looking at me.

  A soft sound echoed through the room.

  Tok.

  David flinched, then forced himself to continue. “I’ve… I’ve been interested in dressing like a woman since I was a teenager.”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  The fog thickened. The red points brightened.

  His breath came shallow. “I spent most of my life thinking that meant something was wrong with me.”

  The people in the room seemed to recede, their presence reduced to small pinpricks of light scattered through the dimming space. Distant. Watching.

  I shouldn’t be saying this.

  One of the pinpricks brightened.

  “You’re doing fine,” someone said, with a steady tone.

  David drew a breath. “I tried to make it go away. I told myself it was a phase. A sickness. Something I could bury if I worked hard enough.”

  The fog pressed closer, crowding his back. The red eyes held.

  They see everything.

  The necklace at his chest warmed. Faint at first. Then brighter. Threads of light stretched outward, connecting it to the pin pricks around him.

  Another voice, closer this time. “Keep going.”

  David closed his eyes. “I hated myself for it. For wanting it. For feeling relief when I let myself be… this.”

  The fog surged.

  He shook his head, breath catching. “I wanted it to stop. I wanted to be normal.”

  The necklace flared, steady now. The pinpricks held their ground.

  Tok. Tok.

  David opened his eyes. “But I couldn’t stop. And pretending it wasn’t there almost destroyed me.”

  The fog wavered.

  A rush of air cut through the room.

  The raven burst from the shadows, wings beating hard. It struck once, twice. The red points vanished.

  The fog thinned, then dissolved, leaving only clear air behind.

  Light returned to the room, warm and solid.

  David stood shaking, exposed, still upright.

  No one rushed him.

  He breathed.