•••

He was gone.

With one firm shove, Neil closed the door and hammered a nail into his own casket.

There was a gaping hole in his chest that could never be filled. Once finally complete, feeling right, and whole, he was left floundering, empty, and scared.

Andrew had become everything - Neil had allowed him to. With his harsh eyes and gentle hands, barbed quips and soothing whispers, Neil wanted to believe he saved him from a life that never should have been his.

The night before had been the happiest Neil had ever been in his life - he was sure Andrew felt the same. Up there in the air, with no one to judge, but the moon and stars. Neil had felt safe, so safe. Together, they had fallen asleep sharing the same space, the same blanket, the same pocket of reality that seemed to move and flow only for them. He remembered waking up to the dawn in Andrew’s eyes and the lazy smile spread upon his lips...

All he wanted was to make sure Andrew could feel that again; without a ball and chain at his ankle, a leash at his throat, and cuffs on his wrists.

Andrew deserved freedom and Neil decided in that split moment, that the look of betrayal Andrew gave him, was worth the unbound years ahead.

The beating that followed was brutal, but Neil grit his teeth and bore it as he thought of Andrew, going to school, college, having a career, a family.

In Neil’s eyes, Andrew deserved the world. He hoped, at least, he’d given him the chance to have it.

•••