Like a million other young gay men, Bryan keeps his sexuality hidden because it’s safer that way. Yet other guys know he’s different -- they sense it, and make Bryan’s life pure hell. At home, things aren’t much better. He barely acknowledges his alcoholic father, and his mother has little time to spend with her family. So Bryan is alone, with no support, no shoulder to cry on.<br><br>Years of torture and torment, of name calling and humiliation, have taken their toll. Bryan does what he can to make new friends, but in trying to be something he’s not, he makes a huge mistake. Unable to cope with the repercussions, Bryan spends more and more time in a fantasy world he has created for himself. In this private world he is handsome, an object of desire. He is loved.<br><br>Is the hiding place as perfect as it seems? Or will Bryan go too deep and not be able to come out again?

The Hiding Place

“Hey, Bryan, wanna come and play some football?” asked Jason, another new friend.


“Too much work to do,” said Bryan pushing his bag forward as if to prove the point. In truth, he didn’t actually know how to play football. Nor did his body possess anything approaching the defined beauty the other young men exhibited. If he went out there, exposing his skinny, scrawny body and inability to catch and kick a football then he’d really blow all the hard work he’d put in trying to be ‘one of the gang.’


Chapter 11