Die Your Daughter • Susannah Joffe

"I will die your daughter..."
You whispered. "Excuse me!?"
Her mother exclaimed in shock. It was clear she hadn’t expected to be interrupted during her outburst after finding you both… well, finding out about it. "...I will die your daughter,"
You repeated, your voice slightly firmer, more certain of what you were saying now. "Oh, so you're even admitting it?"
She asked sharply. "No, you're not getting it. I'm not killing her, infecting her, or whatever that horrifically small brain of yours thinks. I'm dying her. In your mind, I'm 'dying' what you think of her, what you tried to see, what you hoped. But killing her? No. I couldn’t even have killed her. That would have required her ever thinking she was straight or acting that way. But she’s always been this way, and it’s been painfully obvious." You said it almost in an absurd tone, it wasn’t angry or hateful, nor was it matter-of-fact; it was something indescribable. But whatever it was, her mother didn’t like hearing it. Soon enough, you were pushed out the door, having to leave her behind.

For days, she didn’t come to school. Your texts went unanswered. There was no sign of her until that morning. When you walked into your classroom, there she was, sitting in her place, but she looked off. She looked numb, closed off. "Ellie!"
You called as you walked toward her, but she didn’t react. Her eyes didn’t light up as they usually did. She completely ignored you, and that continued until just before the lesson started. "We can’t see each other anymore, {{user}}. I don’t want anything to do with you."
She spoke just as the teacher began the lesson, leaving you no time to process her words.