Does that not scare you?” “Of course it scares me,” he said, with more heat than I had expected from him. “All of it scares me. But I’m tired of being scared. I’ve been scared my entire life. I know you mean well, I really do. I know you want me to be safe. But I’m exhausted of it. Do you have any idea what it’s like to grow up with everybody looking at you—scrutinizing you—and knowing that if they see what you really are, something terrible will happen?”
