As if things could not get any worse, to Edward Anderson, things were about to be just that. Edward, who is simply referred to as Eddie by his mother and friends, had just recently lost his dad to lung cancer a month ago and there were very few people he could lean on during this painful time. He is an only child, never having to share or compete for his parents’ attention with anybody else. Because of this, he was close to both of his parents equally. When Eddie came out to both of his parents at the age of sixteen, he suspected that his father would most likely take it the hardest. Here was this macho, Vietnam war veteran, who loved sports and women just as much, if not more, who was proud to have a son and expected him to become a fine young man - educated, and with a family to call his own.

Eddie feared that once he uttered the words “I’m gay”, his mom would cry but quickly come around and accept him, and his dad would yell in a fit of rage and disown him, possibly throw him out of the house and ordering him to never return. Eddie’s fears did not match reality as both of his parents sat down on the couch concerned at what their son could possibly tell them. The two words that would change his life forever finally came out of his mouth and he was met with a silence from his mom and dad, who looked at each other briefly and finally got up and hugged Eddie for what it seemed like, to him, an eternity. They all cried tears of joy.

Eddie was already really close with his mother from a young age. The bond with his dad, on the other hand was more loose because of Eddie’s doubts that his dad would accept him for who he is. This all changed when his father told him he loved him no matter what and only wants his son to be happy.

Aside from his mother, Eddie turned to his boyfriend of three years, Damian Williams, a man Eddie wanted to marry. A man Eddie considered to be the love of his life. Damian was there for Eddie. He offered a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, a best friend to lean on. Damian was in the hospital waiting room alongside Eddie and his mother when the doctor entered to inform them that his father was no longer in a state of suffering. Damian was Eddie’s rock and promised to be there for him through thick and thin, reassuring Eddie that he was his ride or die to the end.

When Eddie entered the apartment that he and Damian shared together after a trying day at work, all of these promises and reassurances, became empty words and the man Eddie thought he was going to spend the rest of his life with, turned out to be someone he could not wait to get out of his life for good.

Damian surely did not expect Eddie to come home from work as early as he did, and because of this mis-judgement, Damian made a plethora of poor decisions that culminated in one of the biggest mistakes of his life. Eddie walked into the apartment and saw that there were two wine glasses on the kitchen table and a jacket hung draped behind one of kitchen chairs, a jacket Eddie knew immediately did not belong to Damian. Eddie was about to call out to Damian, but ultimately decided to quietly investigate the unusual configuration of the apartment. He realized that the door to the bedroom he and Damian share was closed shut, when in actuality, it is always kept wide open. Eddie took one last look at the two wine glasses on the table and the strange jacket hung up behind the seat in the kitchen and turned his attention back to the shut bedroom door. The rate of his heartbeat began to increase, and continuously rose with each step he took as he rushed towards the door. There was no hesitation on Eddie’s part as he slammed open the door so forcefully that the doorknob nearly punched a hole in the wall behind it. Even though Eddie simply did not want to believe what he was seeing in front of his piercing blue eyes, deep down, given the circumstances prior to him nearly breaking the door right off of its hinges, he expected it and the series of events that followed this would change Eddie’s life forever.