Feral Sephrian

Joshy grew up watching his Bible-thumping dad and his ballet-loving brother Leon argue and shout at each other for years, but never really knew why. When new neighbors move in down the street, suddenly Leon spends time with their son, Kalil. Once again, Joshy is completely in the dark about his brother’s actions and is taken by surprise when both Leon and Kalil run away together. The rest of his childhood and adolescence are spent wondering what became of the pair, until one day ...<br><br>Leon was different from day one, and even though it caused friction with his dad’s narrow-minded views, he never gave up on what he truly was. Exploring his sexuality generates little more than confusion and frustration, until he meets Kalil. They find out they have more in common than people expect, and Leon helps Kalil come to terms with that. Both yearning for freedom from the oppression of their parents, they hatch a plan to escape to New York, where a new life and new opportunities await.

Lost and Found

“We need to split up,” Emma said. “His leash could get caught on something. We should at least herd him back towards the playground, and maybe someone there can catch him.”


I was a bit worried about going off on my own, but I didn’t want the puppy to get lost. We each picked a direction and agreed to meet at the playground. I headed back towards the main park where we had been, but I took a different path because I didn’t think Malak would double back. Being alone was strange, and I kept quiet to not draw attention to myself. Instead, I listened.


I heard rustling in the bushes. I recognized them because there was a small clearing behind them I had used many times during games of hide-and-seek, so I knew exactly where to crawl to get inside. Some of the branches looked recently broken. I thought maybe Malak had run in there and gotten stuck.


Chapter 6