“You can be who you are” a soft, ethernal voice said. It came from no where, and everywhere at the same time. These words felt like a dagger inside Ash’s heart. They pierced their very fiber of being. Ash didn’t understand what was happening but they weren’t going to resist. Looking around, no one else seemed even the slightest bit distracted by the disembodied voice. Ash was the only person who could hear it, but didn’t know that.
“You can be who you are”, the voice repeated, more firm this time. The tears begin to fall, washing away the mascara, the facade of conformity that was meticulously and religiously applied every morning.
“You can be who you are”, the voice filled the courtyard, overwhelming Ash’s mind, with subduing intensity, locking the legs of anyone within earshot with a supernatural intensity. “Be not afraid”, the voice boomed, deep and thick. Ash wanted to be afraid, but she couldn’t, their mind racing with possibilities, racing with the complex thoughts coursing through their brain. “You have been imbued with the power to become your true form, if you just think it.” Ash, not entirely believing the voice, began to question it’s authority.
The voice could sense Ash’s doubt, and began providing them with calming affirmations. “Ash, I know who you are. You are exactly what you’ve always suspected yourself of being. You are yourself. Go forth, as you.”
As suddenly as it had started, the voice faded away, leaving Ash on the sidewalk, feeling barren, as if that voice had stripped away several layers of protection that used to surround them.
Over the next few weeks, Ash found themselves doing things differently. They now would find themselves just a little more inclined to break the norms, just a bit more inclined to do things they normally wouldn’t have done, but really wanted to. Perhaps this was the day they’d try a piece of clothing they’d never worn before, but really wanted to. Perhaps they would embrace the side of them that they hadn’t been able to explore in the past.
Either way, Ash was changing, and they were going to keep changing. The words from that voice a few months ago still bore through their head: “You can be who you are.” And they will be.