Written by Angel Leal
& she was so afraid for my life when I brought up transitioning. I had a trans friend once
she said; the medicine she took to become a woman ate her bones. it was like a faustian
bargain, become a woman & hold your face as though it were a small animal. but drain your
bones until your body can hardly stand a rainshower & a storm destroys you. you’ll be like
a swept up nest full of broken eggs, my love. then my mother asked if we could watch The X-files
I said, yes, of course, & we saw the light. the enormous light swallowed the room & switched
our ages for a mysterious hour but no one believes us. in the morning, I reached out to a small
LGBTQ+ clinic for help. they put me on an indefinite waiting list; asked if I believe in life
beyond the stars? I said, “I want to, I want to be a believer.” & I waited for an opening
.
Angel Leal (she/they) is a Latine, trans, ace writer and poetry editor for the queer spec magazine OTHERSIDE. Their previous work appears in Strange Horizons, Twisted Tongue Press, HAD, The Deadlands, and We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2024. You can find them on Bluesky @angelvleal.bsky.social or watching The X-files in the dark at angel-leal.com