Two weeks later...

Dear Mom,

I don't know why I should be writing this, but Dr. Nguyen said it's therapeutic to finally voice out my feelings to you, even more so when I'm getting ready to head to Boston- one of the many places that you said that I would NEVER go as long as you lived because I wasn't man enough to do anything other than tending to your precious family. Nonetheless, I think it's best to finally say what needs to be said.

The day you dictated in your will that I wasn't part of your family all because of you sleeping around and all that was the day that I gave up all hope for acceptance when I laid you, your husband, and your kids- your true "crowns of glory"- to rest. I gave you all of me and I would die for you, but you wouldn't do the same for me even Jesus himself paid you to do it. No, you'd simply kick back with your crew and let nature have its wicked way with me. I bet you were betting everyone in hell that I'd join you all in continuing to serve you if I succeeded with ending my life, weren't you? Well, I guess fate has a way of proving you wrong since I'm still here and you're not.

"I wish for thunder and lightning to kill you" were your exact words to me that day. Funny enough, it was raining after your clan took off with everything and yet I was still inside wondering what to do next. All the same, your wish isn't granted. I know my self-worth, even if it took time for me to truly understand how special and loved I really was. And the people you bullied into complacence finally had enough of your sadistic pleasures. Like the judge said when I was waiting to be adopted, there's a special place in hell for people like you. And I hope that you, your husband, your kids, and your faithful followers are there paying for your sins. The truths that I had to learn set me free in knowing that you're not going to rule my destiny any more than you already have. I have people who do see me as loved. I have a great transgender boyfriend. But most of all, I have something that neither you or anyone else gave me for a long time: a true family. You may see things differently, but family is never limited to blood ties but can also be described as people who truly care for one another through all seasons of life- not just the fair-weather kind. And the people that I came to know after you and everyone else left me for ruin...they're the ones who saw me for myself.

It's too bad that I never said this before, but it should be said anyway: I don't hate you anymore. I only pity you. And I can only pray that you can finally know that you don't have me in your world. You wanted me gone? Well, you got your wish. Thank you, Vivian Emmeline Ingram-Bader, for showing me what it means to be free. Thank you for showing me that I never belonged in your twisted world of ghetto-perfectionism. But most of all, thank you for setting me free. And despite your malicious wish, I only wish for you to find peace.

I better go, ma'am. Now that I have a scholarship at a boarding school in Boston, I no longer have any cause to write to you or even lay a lily on your grave. Of course, I'll check in with a letter now and then to tell you how I'm doing fine without you; but just know that this lost boy has been found with the right kind of friends and the people that became my family who showed me how to survive loss after rejection. And now that I have, I can finally exhale.
Thanks for everything, Vivian Bader. But now, I have a life to live, one that will never involve you.

Sincerely,
Demario Noah Nguyen-Tucker-Callaway-Cerutini-Beckham-McGillivray-Sullivan-Lomax (Sorry not sorry for the name change. I guess I have no need to be an Ingram, Simmons, or a Bader anymore).

"Perfect," I said, setting my letter in the envelope before putting it in front of the tombstone of the woman who despised my birth. "Rest in Peace, Vivian Bader."

Vivian Emmeline Ingram-Bader
19XX-2019
Mother. Daughter. Sister. Friend.
"Gone Too Soon"

With that, I nodded once before joining the caravan that would lead me and Oliver out of the cemetery and towards DFW Airport where we would be in Boston before lunch.

"Ready to go, Demario?" Oliver asked me as I got into the Kendricks limousine and fastened my seatbelt.

I took one last look of the cemetery and mausoleum where my former blood family was laid to rest this past summer. "I'm ready," I replied as I accepted a glass of nonalcoholic cider. I raised a toast in the air. "To saying goodbye to the past. And to saying hello to the future."

"Cheers," Oliver said as we sipped on our glasses as the caravan of our families and friends took us away from the cemetery.

And from there...a new chapter was waiting to be written into song. Readers, I would tell you that this is the part when you would see "and so I lived happily-ever-after." But...I'm still a teenager, so I will only say this in the style of Sweet Charity to finally end this story on a high note: And so, I start to live my life hopefully ever after.

THE END...AND THE BEGINNING

You can go ahead and get to the epilogue because it's just a small message from  Demario about his story and what he learned from his journey. That, and a small peek into his future. All the same, it's time to give this story a proper close!

Song: "Set Me Free" by Mary J. Blige.

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