Marie.L.Carbone

ALT Portrait photo of Sarah in front of a woodland stick shelter with fairy lights on it. Sarah is white with red hair in a tapered bob with a turquoise streak on the fringe side. She wears glasses with a thick dark-coloured rim. Her outfit is a navy suit top and tie with a white shirt and black denim skirt.

ALT The image collage is dominated by a central mask-like watercolour illustration in which one eye is human and one eye is a cat’s eye. Both eyes are yellow-green in colour. Above this central image is the tagline: “Have you ever been told a secret that changed everything, when all you wanted was to share one of your own?” Around the mask image are photographs relating to high school gossip and bullying, UK town scenes, queer Pride and comfort. They include gossiping figures in school uniform, a hot beverage held between someone’s palms, rainbow reflections, a black cat, a UK street and creative activity-themed objects: a guitar, a writing hand with a pen, and someone sketching.

ALT Fey shook her head and squeezed Grace’s hand, tears welling up and overflowing down her cheeks. ‘Grace, I… The only reason none of this ever dawned on me is… I never—I honestly never imagined in my wildest dreams that a human could love me. I’m too… different… too… monstrous. It was hard enough to believe that you weren’t afraid of me, that you wanted to be friends even after you knew—’