Hybrid — B.N. Toler

"My name is Aldo Lawson. I'm awake. And I'm a hybrid." My Aunt Lucy used to say, “If you cannot find peace within yourself, you will never find it anywhere else.” She said many wise things I never heeded when she was alive. I want to be the woman that's okay with hiding from what she fears and letting her big, strong man protect her. But that's not me. I hate to be scared. I hate the feeling that there is an evil out there that could hurt me if it finds me. But mostly, I hate that so many before me lived in fear and died at the hands of evil. That is why I cannot find peace within. There is no peace for me while Healers suffer the atrocities of others. I know Rhett would protect me at all costs. He loves me. And that is why I must leave him behind. It's impossible to justify hurting someone you love -- or many you love -- to do what you truly believe is right. Lucy also used to say, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” I get what she was trying to tell me now. Hindsight is twenty/twenty. Sometimes we choose a path we think will lead us toward a noble cause, full of ambition and altruism, only to look back and see we've run over and crushed the ones we love most along the way. I can only pray that one day those I love will forgive me. I woke up and I left. I left Rhett, the man who saved me from myself. The man I love. I left my brothers -- my best friends. I left. But leaving led me to more. I found answers. I found others like me -- who want what I want. But most importantly, I found myself. My name is Aldo Lawson. I'm awake. And I'm a Hybrid.