title: I Was A Younger Brother and Other Life-Threatening Experiences
author: Daniel Burch Fiddler
description: Daniel Burch Fiddler is an award winning artist and writer. He works and writes at his art studio in Idyllwild, California.
zlib_text: LET LOVE WIN
  
  A.D. ELLIS
  
  ONE
  
  SKYLER BYRD
  RAIN RAN in rivulets down my face as I knocked on the door. As much as I despised the rain, I hated
  crying even more, so I welcomed the wetness and hoped it would disguise my tears.
  No way was it going to hide my black eye. I’d left way too quickly to grab my makeup, so I was
  going to have to make-do with the very few supplies I had in my backpack for a cover-up. At least
  until I could get to the store. And, fuck it. I was going back to get my clothes and belongings. No
  matter what.
  I knocked again and prayed that this was the right house. I’d been determined to never see my
  parents or my brother again—not after the way they’d treated Trent when I’d come out to them—but
  three years of verbal and emotional abuse at the hands of my so-called boyfriend had finally
  culminated in a punch to my face. I’d been forced to swallow my anger, hurt, and pride and turn to my
  older brother, Charlie.
  I shivered in the rain and worried once again that maybe I’