Don't Let the Forest In

by C.G. Drews

Once upon a time, Andrew had cut out his heart and given it to this boy, and he was very sure Thomas had no idea that Andrew would do anything for him. Protect him. Lie for him. Kill for him.

And Andrew didn’t want to think about any of that. At all. Ever. He didn’t have crushes and didn’t think celebrities were hot and, honestly, the whole thing was stressful and overwhelming and better left boxed up in the back of his head.

My Ace son

“I think someday you’ll hate me.” Thomas’s voice stretched with a loneliness Andrew had never heard before. “You’ll cut me open and find a garden of rot where my heart should be.” Andrew let the silence sharpen between them, waited until Thomas’s breath caught in quiet anguish from being made to wait. “When I cut you open,” Andrew finally said, “all I’ll find is that we match.”

If the trees belonged to Thomas, midnight was in love with Andrew. It made him braver somehow, invisible, hiding his delicate edges and leaving behind a lean and hungry shadow.

They could be so beautiful to each other. They could be so cruel.