TM: Prompt #176
Scars are more than just a physical wound long healed.
I have very few scars you can see, and the important ones weren't inflicted in a brawl or a childhood accident. I can tell you about the most important scar I have, but I can't show it to you. Even if I could, I don't think it would be impressive. It would be small, but deep; depth you can't really tell from a surface glance.
April 5th, 1895 was when I received that scar.
Some would say it was because Oscar was arrested, but that isn't the whole picture of what the scar is. It was on that day that it was made clear to me that I was nothing more than a criminal. No matter how much money or social standing or moral façade I had, in the dark of night, I was a felon.
The world told me, in no uncertain terms, that what I am was unacceptable.
That it would not be tolerated.
I knew then that no matter what I did in my life, what I accomplished, I would never be anything but queer. One of Oscar Wilde's boys who should have been jailed right along beside him.
Maybe I should have.
And that's where the scar comes from. That maybe. Should I have stood in the dock with him, because surely I was just as guilty as Oscar... Bosie, too... Reggie... O.B.... all of us. All guilty without a single word from a jury.
It's guilt I now carry with me.
An invisible scar.
It wasn't there before April 5th.
But it's been there ever since.
Muse: Robbie Ross
Fandom: Real Person
Word Count: 271
I have very few scars you can see, and the important ones weren't inflicted in a brawl or a childhood accident. I can tell you about the most important scar I have, but I can't show it to you. Even if I could, I don't think it would be impressive. It would be small, but deep; depth you can't really tell from a surface glance.
April 5th, 1895 was when I received that scar.
Some would say it was because Oscar was arrested, but that isn't the whole picture of what the scar is. It was on that day that it was made clear to me that I was nothing more than a criminal. No matter how much money or social standing or moral façade I had, in the dark of night, I was a felon.
The world told me, in no uncertain terms, that what I am was unacceptable.
That it would not be tolerated.
I knew then that no matter what I did in my life, what I accomplished, I would never be anything but queer. One of Oscar Wilde's boys who should have been jailed right along beside him.
Maybe I should have.
And that's where the scar comes from. That maybe. Should I have stood in the dock with him, because surely I was just as guilty as Oscar... Bosie, too... Reggie... O.B.... all of us. All guilty without a single word from a jury.
It's guilt I now carry with me.
An invisible scar.
It wasn't there before April 5th.
But it's been there ever since.
Muse: Robbie Ross
Fandom: Real Person
Word Count: 271