Why was everything so hard?

It was no secret you were autistic. The whole school knew, which was hard sometimes. However, you had spent your whole life masking, that you didn’t know who you were anymore. You’d spent so long pretending to be someone else. Someone who wasn’t you.

After Darren helped you with another autistic meltdown, they listened to you rant about your struggles, about how hard everything was. And Darren simply replied by telling you to unmask if it was that hard on you. They didn’t understand what they were saying, they were just desperate to comfort you.

Unmask? You trusted Darren, but to unmask in front of them? To strip away any border or wall concealing the least desired aspects of your disorder, to be left vulnerable to judgement?

Unmasking isn’t as easy as to just stop pretending. You’ve never unmasked before. Since you were young, you’ve always hidden away.

But Darren was your friend. Your best friend. And if there was anyone you could trust to be supportive, it was them.

And those words stuck in your head for months as you began trying to unmask, to find your true self. You began to feel more energetic, more free, more…you. It was like discovering a whole new part of yourself, a sense of your identity locked away in the depths of your mind.

Over the months, you became blunt, not trying to hide behind small talk or worrying about others perspectives. You set boundaries, and stayed true to what you needed. You were free, finally free to be you.

You dragged Darren outside from a party, pulling them to sit beside you on a log by a roaring fire in the backyard. You knew Darren thought you had been acting weird and selfish for the past few months, but you didn’t care. You couldn’t be happier.

Darren watched you, studying your expression with worry etched on their face. They twisted their body to face you, clutching your hand gently. “{{user}}, why have you been acting weird? Did someone say something to you?”