When you see

gender,

black and

white,

I see color.

I see light.

Where you see

certain,

It divides,

All I see?

Are straps,

tightly tied.

When you see

pinks and blues

you think,

somehow,

You know

some thing.

But

let me tell you,

What you know,

Is only what

You seek.

School records can be wrong. So while I considered the "F" next to "Gender" in my gradebook and attendance app, I also considered the vests, the close-cut hair, the chosen nickname, and last year's work founding our rural school's first Gay-Straight Alliance.

I had never asked anyone before (never had call to, really), but I felt like I should, and after wrapping up a one-on-one discussion of writing process, I did.

"By the way, I certainly don't want to pry, and I hope you don't mind my asking. What are your preferred pronouns?"

A quiet moment. A blink or so.

"You know, no one's ever asked me that before. Thank you... I prefer 'he,'" he said.

Crashing pain.. And a deluge of throbbing ache in my head..

How do you breathe? The air doesn't reach me.. No matter how much I'd love to live now..

The darkness resurfaces.. Ugh! Voices, hushed whispers..

Bleep.. Bleep.. Bleep..

"He is waking.. Maybe you should wait some more.."

No.. Wait..! Where the hell am I? This white ceiling..

Shit.. It's so much pain.. Why am I lying down? I need to pee..

By the way,.. Who am I?

I sit up bleary eyed and sore everywhere. The first thing I notice is the beeping of a machine, I soon realize is a heart rate monitor, and I'm in the hospital. I have no memory of the past however long I have been in a coma but my last memory was I was in my car driving home from work and then something happened. I don't exactly remember but all I remember was the stress and anxiety I felt....

(To be continued...)