Ah well. Doesn’t appear things are any better here with my brother. I really hate being in a house where 5 people all go out of their way to 100% avoid using pronouns around me and refuse to refer to me so they don’t have to use my name.
I can picture it. A cabin in NC. We see Tony staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He desperately pats his greasy hair trying compensate for a retreating hairline. It seems futile as the humidity has a death grip on his weighty locks. "Maybe a different shade of lipstick...".
Then he heard it. The others in the den. Their warm heterosexual gaffaws cut the pastoral silence of the homestead. It was Ben's laugh that echoed in his head straight to his bowels, unlodging the hedgehog of anxiety wedged in his lower Chakra. No amount of jw018 will silence the doubt. With a heavy sigh, he gives one futile last glance at the mirror. "You can do it girl", was the mantra he repeated in his head as he grabbed the cold door handle.
With each step, the ambient sound of the voices coming from the other room built in his head like a chorus of cicadas in brood. Tony was startled as the old wood floor unsettled under his feet, and a loud creak played sentury to his family's banter, and the conversation came to an abrupt halt.
As Tony approached the doorframe, his breath became shallow and rapid. His heart was beating like the subwoofers at Bonnaroo. His shadow was first to break the barrier of the door and it was that ghostly specter that he followed into the room.
All eyes immediately shot to him, he could feel their collective gaze pierce him like particles in a collider. His eyes locked with his brother Ben's, and he froze, neck stiff with the fear. "Ben...", he managed, as he presented a mask of resolute certainty.
"Well, hello TONY... I'm sorry, Er... What are you calling yourself? Erin?"
"Yes Ben. It's Erin now. I'm finally happy."
Ben smirked as he looked around the room in a look of smug satisfaction. The rest of the family stared awkwardly at the floor. Tony thought to himself, "Its only a week. I'll feel better... soon." He thought of the vial of the 'shine in his luggage.
It would be the longest week of his life.