The Glitter Jungle:
Fiction:
Into The Labyrinth
A transgender story
Johnny feels caged. Johnny feels trapped. Johnny looks like a normal guy, talks and walks like a normal guy, and everyone who looks at Johnny say, "Hey, what's wrong with him?"
And that's what's wrong.
With her.
***
She looks in the mirror and this man's eyes seem so cruel to her; the man who is her guise, her mask.
He tried to starve her by denying her freedom; tried to exhaust her with endless macho facades. But she knows he does all that for her, because he thinks she'll disappear and melt into him and they will be... And he will be whole again. She's precious to him but he doesn't know how to handle her. He tried running away from her as far as he could, but she was always there, within him.
She lived away from the sunlight for so long, her heartbeat but a pale echo to his; but he let her go out and play this once, and she won't accept the darkness again.
***
Johnny reaches for the lipstick tube with a sure hand.
Who am I?
She paints her lips with careful, precise strokes.
Why am I not happy?
She blows a kiss at the mirror.
How do I become me again?
She adjusts the wig. Long, dark blond hair, with a reddish tint, wavy and gorgeous. She brushes it, slowly, meticulously.
She paints her eyelids, dusty green and icy purple. Black liner and mascara.
Over the binding, restricting underwear, she wears a tight, short, blue denim skirt. A tight white t-shirt from his own closet goes on next, over his flat, muscular chest. She wears heavy black boots, it makes her feel grounded. A black leather jacket, makes her feel guarded.
She goes out into the night.