All that time I thought she was my future, I was wrong. She wasn’t my future at all. She was the door to my future. But I’m through that door now, and ready to close it behind me.

Love doesn’t discriminate and nor should the law. Not in this country, not in this world, not in this lifetime.

For a second, I see into the future: she’s old and grey, she has senile dementia and can’t remember my name. The thought pretty much breaks my heart in two.

Brightport looked so small: a cluster of low buildings, all huddled around a tiny horseshoe-shaped bay, a lighthouse at one.

The worst part was the fear – looking down at the rushing water that seemed miles away. But once you were on that branch, there was no going back.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire just started. She won’t even notice I’ve gone!” He stuck his head around the door anyway. “Just heading out with Emily, Mom.” “No, it’s B, you idiot!” she shouted at the television.

It’s official, then. Everyone knew I was gay before I did.

If you looked round the rooms, you wouldn’t think there was anything missing. But it’s like one of those Spot the difference cartoons in a puzzle book. The changes are so subtle, yet glaringly obvious once you’ve seen them. A photo missing here, a cup there. A heart a bit more broken than it was before.

I try to imagine keeping something like that a secret for my whole life. It would be like always wearing a mask over your face, which everyone believed was the real you. You would be the only person who knew it wasn’t – and who knew that you could never take it off.

The tail of Emily Windsnap”everyone has a secret. mines alittle different. i figured out i am a mermaid.