Girl/Boy - Fire walk with me * 2026

Summary

The formative years of Roy Vanido.

This work heavily focuses on the subject of intense and touchy themes/topics, also full of vulgar language. Viewer discretion is advised.

trigger/content warnings

Graphic focus on the following topics of child sexual abuse/assault
Instances of child negligence/maltreatment
Major character death, bodily harm towards a minor and body horror
Self deprecating behaviour/victim blaming
Minor instances of transphobia

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Born in a gold cradle, Reynold Dorado Vanido could've had anything he wanted in a finger snap. Reynold should be lucky for being born and raised into a family that loves him so, who clothed and fed him no matter what, an unconditional familial love that he too, someday will pass down when he grows up and leaves the nest.

So so lucky was he, to be given such a fortunate life devoid of struggle or stress. So why wasn't it enough?

All his life, he'd been in the care of various nannies and caretakers over the years. His parents were still present in Roy's life of course, watched him grow into a cheerful little boy, but there always seemed to be more work to complete, somewhere to be, situations way more urgent and complex than Roy could've understood.

The moments between his parents and him alone at first felt like a reward for being such a patient, good boy. Nights spent in their bed squeezed right in the middle, slowly dozing off as they read and sung him to sleep. Other times, special occasions where they were all celebrating and having a wonderful time, like the world itself paused just for their special moment. Nothing else had mattered at that point, just Roy in his little world alongside his parents.

But moments like those were never meant to last, time moved on and it would all go back to status quo. It wasn't fair! Why couldn't have the world revolved around him? Was that so much to ask?

Before he knew it, the novelty of these occasions grew… dull. More days passed where his parents simply were too busy or tired to keep up with his energy, Roy wouldn't have realized this until way later, but something just clicked within his mind over how his parents were during this time, it just didn't feel right.

What was there for Roy to do now? Sure his caretakers were nice to him and indulged in his antics, but it wasn't the same. Friends were an entirely different story, he just struggled to make any.

He wondered what made him so different from his peers, was it how he dressed? His behaviour? All he remembers was that he was relatively "normal" for a kindergartner, yet here he was. A black sheep within his groups, Roy just wanted a friend. He just wanted any attention.

That's when he came in.

Roy doesn't remember much of his extended family, he hadn't even seen them in years, but there was always one member who showed up to any event without fail; his paternal uncle.

The first time they properly met was during a new years gathering, they were throwing a huge house party at Roy's where family from all over would be arriving. Uncle Dorado came especially early to help out with the preparation.

Dressed in red, Roy greeted his uncle and received a red packet filled with a dozen ten dollar notes, at the time it felt as if Roy had been handed a million dollars from the lottery, he was awestruck. Much later Uncle Dorado gave him sweets and snacks to eat together till dinner. Amidst spending time with family who were more distant to Roy, he always came back to uncle Dorado.

These plain acts of kindness from his uncle felt like the world to Roy, he spoiled and pampered the boy to no end, they'd watch cartoons together, played games of all kinds, uncle Dorado matched and engaged with Roy's energy attentively, it was a match made in heaven.

By the time the festivities came to an end and uncle Dorado had to leave, Roy was begging him and his parents to stay over for just one more day, one last time. It was clear to everyone how much Dorado became the favorite uncle, thus a compromise was made.

Luckily for Roy, Uncle Dorado didn't live too far away! He was also terribly lonely, having a nice huge house all to himself, a perfect space for a child to stay over in. Uncle Dorado even made promises of toys he'd buy to personalize Roy's own room within the house, it was perfect!

So a new schedule was written for Roy, every weekend he'd prepare to leave for a stay over at his uncle's estate. Time for just the two of them in their own little bubble, having all kinds of fun together. Roy was so, so lucky.

He loved his Uncle Dorado and Uncle Dorado loved him so. He filled the void that Roy's parents couldn't fill, everyone was happy!

And off he went, bubbling with anticipation for the magical weekend away, Roy packed all he could into his backpack, received a kiss on the head from both his parents and rode off in the back of his uncle's car, watching a DVD movie uncle Dorado picked out. They finally arrived by his house in the late afternoon with some takeout at Roy's request.

It was true, in Roy's mind at least, uncle Dorado's house was huge! Painted white and pristine, apparently he'd heard uncle Dorado bought the land his house was situated on, all for himself. Stepping into the home and slipping his shoes and socks by the rack, it was clear that uncle Dorado had more empty space than he needed, everything had a fine polish to it but it was a little bare compared to Roy's house.

Immediately wandering the halls and rooms of the house, he stumbled into the living room which had a giant television screen sitting on a counter, the room was even air conditioned coupled with a giant, comfortable couch facing the TV. Before Roy could bring himself to start searching for the TV remote, he felt a surprise hug from uncle Dorado from behind him, bursting out into shocked giggles as his uncle lifted him off the ground.

"Now now Roro, you haven't even got yourself settled! TV after you unpack your bag and shower miss!"

Roy let out an exaggerated sigh of annoyance before being let down onto the marble flooring and tailing behind his uncle upstairs, where he'd be sleeping in for the next two days. His room was much like the rest of the house, walls painted white with tiled flooring, looking around, Roy immediately spotted a wardrobe and a wooden desk, alongside shelves of books and toys uncle Dorado must've prepared for him.

Roy wasted no time filling the room with his items, as if he had lived here all this time, uncle Dorado grinned in delight at Roy's eagerness and left back down the stairs. By the time Roy was finished with both tasks uncle Dorado had appointed him that afternoon, it was evening and the both of them were watching all sorts of DVDs and cassettes uncle Dorado had lying around. Roy was so lucky to have such an amazing and silly uncle.

After a marathon of various kids movies Roy picked out, Dorado lead a sleepy Roy back to his guest room and tucked him in, giving Roy a peck on the cheek before bidding him goodnight. Roy couldn't wait for the next day of fun to arrive, what more was in store for him.

Roy expected everything from this point on to be sunshine and rainbows, he couldn't have expected anything less with what an exciting day he had. Roy didn't remember how long or short it took for the magic to fade away, he wanted to cling onto the good times he had, just a little longer.

It started off small, a ticking bomb counting down till it inevitably blows up. He learned more about uncle Dorado, what he was like, how he was. Much like Roy's dad, uncle Dorado also smoked, he'd bring Roy along to his trips to the store to get his fix, buying an icy, sugary treat for Roy for accompanying him.

When they got home and had dinner, Dorado decided to treat himself to a toast, it only increased more and more late into the night, even after Roy had brushed his teeth and tucked himself into bed, he could see his uncle pouring himself glass after glass of beer.

The aftermath of that night of drinking resulted in Roy waking up early in the morning to the sight of his uncle, shirtless and wasted in his bed. The room reeked of whatever his uncle had drank, nevertheless Roy entered into his room determined to wake him up for breakfast.

Trying his best to catch his uncle's attention, he shook and prodded at his uncle's body, climbing onto his uncle's king sized bed chanting his name over and over. However, uncle Dorado instead wrapped Roy into his arms and laid him down in his bed, this was what started confusing Roy.

"Uncle? Uncle! You gotta wake up, we need to get ready for today!" Roy wiggled around in the grasp of his uncle, but uncle Dorado didn't relent, slurring his words as he pulled Roy tighter into his chest, Roy could feel Dorado's skin and chest hair that tickled Roy's body.

"Just a little longer Roro… give me ten minutes…"

They remained there, intertwined and covered under the sheets for an hour before uncle Dorado finally was sober enough to wake up. Roy didn't like it, he was mad over how much time they'd wasted.

It wouldn't be the last time incidents like these popped up.

Sometimes… uncle Dorado had a strange way of humoring himself. Roy was used to his uncle's surprise hugs and tickle fights he'd initiate, Roy enjoyed those. What he didn't enjoy was his uncle playfully slapping his behind, he grew to hate those.

His uncle would later comment on the size of his butt, that Roy would surely grow into a figure similar to his moms. Roy really didn't like that comment, for more reasons than he expected.

At some point, Roy became aware of his body, what his outsides were. He'd stare into the bathroom mirror for a minute or two, not pulling his focus off from the reflection. He didn't like the clothes he wore, even the clothes uncle Dorado bought for him. He didn't like his name, he just felt overwhelming confusion on his dissatisfaction with what was supposed to be "natural" to him.

Some time, uncle Dorado must've noticed it. Roy didn't know how, if it was that obvious to others, but uncle Dorado knew him well, did he?

Out of the blue, Roy had a rather strange conversation with his uncle. A hypothetical Roy brewed in his head.

"If I was a boy, what would my name be?"

"Hmm, I'm not too sure. Do you know?"

A simple back and forth, his uncle's response made Roy think, what would he be named?

"I don't know… what if I was a boy?"

"… Do you want to be? You can answer truthfully, I won't get mad."

Would he? Roy hesitated for a moment, gears running through his mind if he should entertain whatever response uncle Dorado had for him, but he answered.

"Maybe. I don't know, it would be cool…"

Uncle Dorado just laughed and excused himself for his response to Roy's statement. He patted Roy on the head and said

"Don't worry kid, you can be my little nephew whenever you come by. I won't tell your parents."

Dread still bubbled in Roy's tummy, but he also felt a strange sense of relief, a gentle smile forming on his face.

"Thank you uncle Dorado, I love you."

"Love you too, it'll be our little secret."

It didn't stay a secret for long. Sooner or later, Roy's parents found out. Whether it be the growing amount of androgynous clothing uncle Dorado bought for him, or Roy's growing tomboyish behaviour or just his uncle letting it slip his tongue. Roy's mom and dad knew about their secret and confronted him about it.

Roy was livid, writhing and shaking on the ground in anger and betrayal, those emotions soon transformed into sadness and bargaining; begging both his parents for forgiveness and apologizing for how stupid he was.

It turns out, after that emotional roller coaster of a day, they weren't mad at him at all. They settled him down by his bed with a glass of water to calm his nerves before enveloping him into a hug, reassurances that they would always love their child, female or male. Roy suddenly felt himself longing for the affection his parents gave him, which was filled by his uncle.

They promised him that they'd do anything to make him happy, as long as he behaved well and promised to them that he wouldn't keep secrets from them, they just wanted the best for their son. Roy couldn't have been any happier, it was as if nothing had changed, but everything did overnight, one of his wishes was fulfilled. How lucky of Roy.

Yet Roy still felt the ticking of a bomb settle in his stomach, that something wasn't right, that he was still in trouble. He had a hard time sleeping, mind occupied with conflicting thoughts about how this all came to be. Roy was honestly still mad that uncle Dorado didn't keep his end of the deal, this was their secret! Roy however had no say in the end with what happened, all he could do was rest his head and move on from what his uncle had done. Maybe it'll be better this way…

The more Roy spent away at his uncle's house, the more he could feel himself change. Change was natural for him, natural for anyone, but his perception of his uncle or what used to be there metamorphosized into something… sinister, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

More mornings spent laid in his bed, not by Roy's want or decision. Moments spent together as his uncle smoked around him and drank himself drunk, it worried Roy a lot, but his uncle would always comfort him that he'd be fine. More and more times uncle Dorado smacked his butt by surprise, it stopped being funny the more he did it.

But this was nothing Roy couldn't have handled, he could just tough it out, his uncle still played lots of games with him, bought him gifts of all kinds, talked earnestly with Roy about his interests…

Until one day. It just changed, everything within their dynamic changed.

After a day spent in the mall, Roy was opening up a new book he and his uncle bought from the bookstore, a book about ancient Egypt. Uncle Dorado had left the living room briefly to tend to… something when curiosity got the better of Roy.

He put down his book and scrambled to search for other collection of items his uncle owned, as if scrounging for treasure, Roy dug into an assortment of media his uncle had which Roy hadn't seen before. It was then when he found something he'd never seen before.

It felt like opening Pandora's box, something that wasn't meant for his eyes, yet it called his name like a siren call, beckoning his hands to open it up and see what it was. It was a blank disc within a scratched up case, no graphics on it could give Roy any context clues to what it was. All it had was wording written in black sharpie; titled "XXX 19XX"

Roy was so hyper-focused on the disc between his hands that he didn't notice his uncle's signature surprise tackle from behind, those have long worn their novelty. he met the gaze of his uncle's face, now nervous on what he had uncovered, if his uncle would be mad.

He was smiling, uncle Dorado just stared down at Roy and giggled, what was so funny? Roy didn't understand. Like that, uncle Dorado towered upon the kneeling Roy as he picked the disc from Roy's fingers into his own, pointing towards the DVD player that was connected to the giant TV in the living room.

"Would you like to watch? You wanna know what's in it don't you"

Roy nodded, his throat clamped as he didn't dare to break contact with uncle Dorado.

"Come sit down by the couch, we can have another marathon, you like those right?"

You like those right?

Roy didn't know why, he still doesn't know why. He slowly rose up from his position from the floor and walked towards the lap of his dear uncle. He made himself as comfortable as he could from his small scare and nestled himself onto uncle Dorado's legs, cupping a stray couch pillow into his arms as his uncle pressed play on the TV remote.

There was a lot of things he didn't understand at that age, a lot of these concepts or feelings would translate to confusion of some kind, needing to find an answer to his predicament.

But this didn't confuse him, at least a little. It scared him. He couldn't make sense of what he watched that day, it just frightened him further and further, yet he couldn't peel his eyes away from the screen. Roy sat still as a statue, tightly hugging the couch pillow as his uncle simply sat back and relaxed, how could he be so nonchalant about this? Wasn't he a little scared?

They both stared blankly towards the TV and what was playing in front of their eyes. What Roy now realizes was low quality, home filmed porno. How his uncle ever got a hold of this, these discs he didn't know, he didn't want to know. All he could do was watch in wordless horror.

This would become a regular for them these upcoming visits.

More years would pass, Roy's life changed even more than it had previously. Yet it felt like all of these blurred together in his mind, the only thing that stuck and would never change were his routinely sleepovers at uncle Dorado's on the weekend.

What came next for Roy was something Roy had been anticipating, yet was still terribly surprised by: puberty.

When it came to socially transitioning, Roy's family and his neighbors came to quickly adapt to Roy's new identity, accommodating his new needs that came. However, they still needed to pass some hurdles when it came to medically transitioning for he was still quite young.

It was hard explaining it to others, especially when it came to school. They were either ambivalent or didn't care at all what he wanted, they just stuck with what they knew. Soon enough, Roy was herded into a tiny room separated from his male classmates, he suddenly felt more like an outcast within the sea of girls from his class. They were getting the talk.

His classmates squealed and gawked at the juicy parts, giggles arose about the "birds and the bees", it was something new and interesting they were learning for the better, but Roy couldn't share that commonality. He's already grown up and learnt about these, in all their graphic, fleshy details.

Images flash in his mind, swimming and floating around as he imagines the scenarios his uncle played for him from his collection. Sweat, piss, blood, nothing the infographics would be allowed to show. Roy felt rather unimpressed and bored by the end of the talk.

However, whatever he'd been dreading and anticipating couldn't have been any worse than he expected.

His body was growing, it became bigger and fatter than before, more hair was growing all over his body, he needed a new set of clothing from his old closet. Roy was painfully aware of all these senses and sensations within his body.

He didn't want to grow up, but he'd already grown up, right? That's what everyone tells him, it's what his parents tell him, it's what uncle Dorado tells him.

Roy was stuck in between a tug of war game, one side reminding him that he was still a child, that he should be innocent and carefree. The other side was what laid in his future, he needed to grow up soon, he needed to understand what was happening, he didn't want to be treated like a dumb kid, he wasn't!

Roy was confused once again, sometimes it lead to fear and sadness, nowadays it started leading to anger and frustration. Pent up energy she needed to release somewhere, somehow.

Roy got in trouble, he became a misfit because causing trouble was all he had left. He needed to feel bigger than he actually was, stronger and tougher than he was on the inside. Threw away his previous persona of an innocent, goody two shoes if that side of him still existed anymore. Once again Roy metamorphized into someone that felt natural, yet still stuck out in ways only he could point out.

His parents didn't like his new attitude, yearning for the days of their sweet little boy and where he'd gone. Roy grew annoyed at his parents, at most authority figures, at other kids, everything set him off.

Yet he still packed his bags and prepared for his weekly visit to uncle Dorado's house.

Uncle Dorado still had his back, even if he pissed Roy off more and more, He'd just laugh it away as average preteen angst.

How long this would last; Roy would find out soon.

He can recall how it first happened, point by point, from when it started and stopped.

Roy and his uncle finally arrived home, Roy brought his homework alongside his usual belongings.
As uncle Dorado prepared dinner, Roy settled his bags into his bedroom for the weekend and immediately neglected his work to lounge on the coach in the living room, retrieving a snack from the kitchen briefly.
Roy picks up the remote to the TV and switches from channel to channel, unsatisfied with whatever was airing at the moment. He's long since gone through every single DVD and tape his uncle owns, most of them either being kiddie stuff he didn't like anymore or those.
Uncle Dorado calls Roy into the dining room for dinner, he prepared pasta with salmon for the two of them, Roy obliges and drags himself off the couch and into the kitchen, his new habit of slouching on his seat showing evidently.
They sit in awkward silence, utensils clashing and clinking at their plates as they consume their meal. This lasts for minutes until Roy stands up and says he's going back to the couch.
His uncle stops him, jutting out his arm towards Roy's. Roy stands there in shock, bewildered by what uncle Dorado had just done.
His uncle tells him something, they slowly make their way not towards the living room with his giant TV in it but the second floor of the house.
They inch their way through the hallway, passing by Roy's room and entering the master bedroom, Uncle Dorado's room.
Roy is instructed to sit by his uncle's bed, or was he threatened? Why did he oblige? Or maybe he wanted to go? He couldn't exactly recall.
Uncle Dorado locks his bedroom door. Or maybe he strips off his clothing, which ever came first.
Roy suddenly felt everything and nothing at once.

He felt confused, he was scared, he was angry, he was miserable, he felt a flurry of emotions but couldn't recognize what he felt exactly. He just felt emptied out and hollowed till the end.

This becomes a new routine for them, as natural as needing to brush his teeth in the morning and night or drinking water.

He wonders how long this goes on for.

Roy has a nightmare, however it's nothing he's ever experienced before.

Roy's in a house he doesn't recognize, it's neither his parents or his uncle's place. It's ratty and unkept, the walls were musty and mold infested. The entire room was bare, spare the few pieces of worn down furniture "decorating" the room.

Roy suddenly felt a lot smaller, as if he was much younger than he was before.

He attempted to stand up, only to fall face first onto the hard wooden flooring with a loud thud. Roy felt incredibly dizzy, vertigo reverberating his head and body as he struggled to pull himself up.

That's when uncle Dorado came in, out of the shadows, he had a sadistic grin painted on his face, he reeked of alcohol and cigar smoke. In his dominant hand bore a long, sharp blade.

Roy stood still like a deer in headlights. Neither of them spoke a word, just staring at each other in deafening silence. Roy felt as if he'd lost control of his body, struggling to leave his spot as his uncle crawled towards him, he needed to leave! So why can't he move? MOVE YOU FAT DOLT!!!

Finally, as Uncle Dorado towered over the boy, Roy struck and kicked him in the crotch, instantly zipping off towards an exit, whatever he could find. His efforts were in vain however as he was quickly overpowered by his uncle just before Roy could turn the door knob to his escape.

Both of them laid on the ground as they wrestled endlessly, either attempting to ambush the other. His uncle had the advantage, not only being much older and stronger than the teen boy, but slowly edging his blade into Roy's hands and neck, leaving slashes and cuts upon his body.

Roy however kept swinging and punching wildly, as much as he could. Aiming at which ever part of his uncle's body he could target a weak spot from. He was so tired, he was so exhausted, why was this happening?

Roy then screamed for help, he was getting desperate, if he wasn't already. How did it get this bad? Where was he? How could his uncle do this to him? Where were his parents? Why did nobody care? It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair!!! IT WASN'T FAIR!!!

Roy woke up, he was in his bed, in his actual house. Miles and miles away from uncle Dorado's, it wasn't any time near the week he'd even visit him. It just wasn't fucking fair.

Roy finally made some friends, his predicament however that his parents didn't like his new friends.

They were a little older than him, yet he fit in with the duo just nice, like they'd been friends for years. In a way, Roy felt a lot… happier spending time with them. Whether it be complaining about school or homework, playing games together, eating whatever their stomachs could handle before throwing it all back up. Just doing dumb shit with Ross and Robert lightened his days.

They didn't care or draw too much attention to his unique side, they were a little quirky themselves, that just tightened their bond together harder. Together, they were just a trio of shithead teenage boys with nothing better than to cause mischief and chaos around town.

Of course, they argued with each other all the time, it'd a few last minutes or days at minimum and in the end it was never that serious. Nothing could break their ride or dies for each other.

Until a peculiar day in October

It wasn't really an interesting day in particular, they were just picking on some twerps they encountered by the street, stupid nerds wearing halloween costumes in the middle of October!

Roy spotted the mansion on the hill, quickly brewing a cheeky plan to totally prank these kids, enticing them with promises of a spooky party. Watching them tumble and trip over each other's feet in hurried succession towards the mansion was hilarious.

"That's where my uncle takes me"

All the sudden, something within the air shifted. Roy hadn't even noticed his friend's reaction upon his minor remark, so why were they looking at him like that?

"The fuck are you guys staring at me for"

Roy broke the silence between the three of them, Ross and Robert clearly struggling with how exactly they would word their next sentence.

"What do you mean by that?" Robert finally answered

"By what? Why do you care"

"Like… take you? Your uncle…" Ross responded back, the two older boys glancing at each other nervously before facing Roy.

Oh shit, I worded that badly. English was Roy's primary and first language, yet he made a dumbass comment like that, he scrambled to explain himself.

"Uhhh it's nothing weird dude fuck I just misspoke okay! It's nothing weird!!"

That was the best he could come up with, Ross and Robert still glanced at him nervously, tension building up from when he first blurted that comment out. Can they stop looking at him like that?

"WHAT! Fucking stop staring at me it's making me weirded out" Roy raised his voice, he attempted to raise himself higher from his toes, desperately trying to appear intimidating and daunting.

Ross and Robert quickly mumbled apologies towards Roy, not that it mattered really, it was nothing. Not until one of them piped up, saying "Was that mansion always there? What's in there even?"

"Oh it's just dumb and empty, my uncle goes there sometimes"

It all just, came out so naturally, so why were they staring at him funny again?

"… What's your uncle doing in there? I thought his house wasn't around here?"

Not this again. Why did they care so much? It's just a stupid, dusty ass house?

"Dude I don't know!! He just fucking takes me there sometimes it's not that serious."

"But didn't you say you misspoke… he does actually take you?"

"DUDE is that seriously what you're taking away from this so what?!"

"Roy dude we're just asking, this all just sounds… wrong"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S WRONG!?"

Roy didn't mean to be that loud, the squabbling would've continued if they hadn't suddenly encountered… something.

Before they knew it, they were being dragged over by Robert's dumbass cop uncle to the police station so Roy's and Ross's parents could pick them up. Apparently they were just loitering and bumbling about late in the night, way too late than reasonable.

All Roy knew concretely was that those stupid ass kids they tricked had something to do with it, and now Roy was in trouble yet again.

Once his parents picked him up, they gave him an earful about him avoiding his curfew to hang out with those plebeians, how worried they were for him and what could've happened if officer Hoffman hadn't found them. It all went from one ear to the other to Roy, he was used to this.

Arriving home, his mother demanded he go to bed immediately, that they would discuss punishments the next day. Roy just scoffed and stomped into his bedroom, closing the door with a large slam.

Burying his face into the pillows and digging his nails into his sheets, he just thought about how fucking stupid this day's events were, from Ross and Robert giving him that weird ass look and questions to being held custody at the police station, to his parents lecturing him once again about his choice of friends and delinquency.

What-ever!!!

He didn't need to deal with any of this shit any longer, he was lucky he wasn't receiving an earful of a scolding from his mom right now, he may as well hit the hay.

The next day, he woke up expecting that lecture his parents must've prepared for him, only to instead wake to other police officers in his house, asking his parents questions and then setting their sights onto him.

His parents seemed horrified and shocked, what the fuck happened?

Uncle Dorado died. They searched his house and everything they could.

They found out their secret.

Roy proceeded to have some of the worst days of his life, even compared to well. Everything.

He couldn't keep up with all that was happening, it all went so quickly, yet devastatingly slow.

They took Roy into questioning, into invasive medical checks, into questions and revelations Roy didn't know if he'd wanted to know about.

Like how they'd found photos upon photos of Roy's bare body from his uncle's phone library, or the porno flicks that may or may not have been illegally distributed, all the money his uncle owed from companies of all kinds before he died.

Roy didn't want to know, but he had to. It was better than the cops pitying him and trying to preserve any remnants of his "innocence", he wasn't sheltered or dumb, he wasn't their stereotypical image of a princess crying from the top of a tower. He was a boy, he was going to be a man, this didn't make him less of a man.

Did it?

He almost missed the time in his life where not everybody and their freaking mother knew that he was being ~~raped~~ ~~molested~~ assaulted fucked by his uncle. Yet he couldn't help but feel betrayed by how long it took, the years it took for anybody to notice.

Why did they care now? Why didn't my parents do anything if they cared this much?? Why did I stick around that creep for so long? Why why why?

He hated his parents, or the cops, or the doctors, or the therapists and counselor or his freaking friends telling him it wasn't his fault. You were only 7/10/12/13. You didn't know any better. Yes he did!

Roy was so, so tired of being treated like a helpless baby bird in need of nurturing. So what? He wasn't special, this happens all the time everywhere? Why did people care? The angrier they were at his uncle, the more disgusted Roy felt towards himself for having never spoken up.

He loved his uncle… he couldn't imagine him being this bad guy everyone said he was (even if it's true). This was all his uncle's fault. He ruined him. Roy was stupid enough to still trust him after all that. He hated him, yet he missed him, he cried over the reality that his uncle was dead forever, so suddenly too.

Roy didn't attend his funeral, apparently they were going to cremate him. Roy just remained home for the oncoming days, sulking on his bed staring into the wall or his room's ceiling.

Eyes red and itchy from crying

Sheets and blankets soaked in snot

The walls of his room growing smaller and smaller into Roy

Roy screamed as loud as he possibly could, till his lungs were tired and his throat burned.

Roy had a nightmare again.

This time, he was in his house, in his own room. Within the comfort of his sheets, he didn't remember covering himself under it. When did that happen?

He tried to raise himself up from his bed, but found himself paralyzed, unable to even twitch his finger or wiggle his legs around. From the corner of his eye, he spotted something.

It was dark in his room, and even darker beyond his bedroom's walls. Roy's door slowly creaked upon, the cracks slowly revealing who was behind the door even in pitch blackness.

It was uncle Dorado, at least he looked like him.

Dorado's face was shadowed in gloom, Roy could only make out his face before more details of this person was revealed.

"Rocío… I know you're awake…"

Roy remained as quiet and still as he could be, his uncle's beckoning continued.

"Roro… don't ignore me when I ask you a question…"

His uncle creeped in closer, crawling into his room like a spider on the wall... Roy could make out more detail from his uncle's appearance.

His mouth was agape, strange black bile dripping and drooling down his face, onto Roy's floor, onto his bed. His head had been dented in, exposing parts of his skull that were rotting away, Roy swore he could've made out creepy crawlies burrowing in his uncle's skin.

The strong smell of smoke and iron filled Roy's lungs. His uncle was naked.

"Reynold… are you a virgin?"

Roy remained silent and dumbfounded. He gulped.

"Roy… if you don't answer me… on the count of three"

"One"

"Two"

"Three"

Roy screamed as his uncle dove onto his laying body, vomiting more of that black, mystery substance into his mouth, melting over Roy's body like candle wax. There was a burn in between Roy's legs, his stomach, his chest, his brain. Everything was set ablaze, his house was burning to ashes and nobody seemed to care. His vision was smoky.

Roy screamed and screamed as loud as his vocal chords would allow him, his whole body burning up and exploding like a fireworks show in July.

Roy woke up.

Everything kinda went back to normal, keyword kinda.

His parents returned to their same old, strict snotty selves, albeit everything had become a little more awkward with what had happened. Roy returned to school after his extended break away, Ross and Robert hung out with him like normal again. Shooting the shit, just doing dumb stuff like they always have.

They were hanging out in a McDonald's or something, it was a Friday so they were released from school earlier, eating sloppy shitty junk food by the road.

Thankfully, Ross and Robert didn't ask him too many questions. Of course they knew about what happened, it was in the news for a bit. Roy was just glad they weren't making a huge deal out of it like how it'd been for the last goddamn days in his life.

Roy picked at his pickles he left out of his burger and his soggy fries, he stared at Ross and Robert, the both of them deep in conversation about something insignificant and dumb.

He then glanced towards the window of the McDonald's from his left, the reflection he was met with shocked him.

There he was, staring back, but he was slowly setting ablaze, skin and muscle burning and rotting away off his skeleton. Right beside him was uncle Dorado, burning alongside Roy, both of them spilling more of that mysterious black substance from their mouths.

They twisted together like a tree, bodies contorting in unnatural ways as smoke filled their lungs. Screaming, ringing, burning. Roy could hear it.

From behind Roy and uncle Dorado, a greenish hue slowly overtook them both, shrouding them in obscurity. Yet their screams remained clear and visceral as day.

Nobody could hear Roy's screams but him.

Roy suddenly felt a light tap on his shoulder, his friends clearly noticed his dumbass staring at nothing… nothing at all in the air. He quickly changed the subject, to reassure them that nothing was wrong, everything was fine.

Everything was going to be normal again, it had too.

He could smell the scent of cigar ash in his nose.