This story was inspired by an image I stumbled upon online, with a text that said:

Sometimes we put up walls. Not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to knock them down.

I own nothing, make no money and know no one connected with this. I do own my imagination, and here's a piece of it:

Walls

Brian wasn't the kind of guy that was afraid of feeling. He had emotions, he accepted them, but he also knew how to control them and how it would benefit him when he did.

He put up walls as soon as he was old enough to build their likes with Lego. When he was a kid, he put them up to protect the parts of him that he knew he had to guard. He'd always been a smart child, and even before he finished middle school he had started putting stuff behind the walls, longing for the day when he could bring them back out, dust them off and let them be seen.

In high school, the walls helped him to gain his reputation as the stud. He'd be the stud for the rest of his life after that, his rep would just move locations. Then he met Mikey, and something with the other boy made him keep his walls up. He wanted to see what happened. The first time Mikey butted his head against them, Brian held his breath, waiting to see what the other boy would do.

Mikey walked in front of them, seeming to try and find a crack or something that he could slip through. When he didn't, he gave up and let them stand.

Brian was disappointed.

Over the years several more people butted into the walls, but no one seemed to want to really try to get through them. A few people managed to peek over them and get a glimpse of what was behind, because they were so tall. Debbie and Vic were two of those people. Brian noticed, and the reactions and actions that followed made him uncomfortable. So he built a roof, and suddenly where there had only been walls, a house stood steady.

And then there was that blond, skinny twink. That Jesse guy, or whatever. He bumped against the wall too. But he stepped back, blinked twice with those big, blue baby eyes. And then he stepped up to the wall and politely knocked.

Brian stepped out of the house momentarily to kick the kid in the shins. He then went back into his house so that he wouldn't have to watch him cry like the child he was. He had better things to do with his time. From inside his house, he polished the walls and reinforced them where they needed it. Every now and then, he stepped to the side and watched in amusement how people was walking around him, trying to find the clue that would lead them to the key that would unlock the house.

No one knew Brian kept it close, even though he pretended to leave it out in the open every now and then, just for fun.

Jesse turned out to actually be called Justin (close enough, Brian thought) and the guy turned out to be like water, finding the smallest crack and seeping inside. Brian was hot on his heels, securing the cracks, and everything seemed fine for a while. But then, Justin suddenly found a hole, and came skidding through it so fast and forcefully Brian had no time to stop him. Before he could think, he was knocked off of his fucking feet. But by that time, Justin had hit his head on the way in and fallen into a coma and Brian was laying flat on the floor.

So Brian had no problem in pushing him out again, because now he didn't resist. And then he set to working on getting rid of the Justin-sized hole.

People came by to test his walls, but still they just knocked and when he didn't let them in on his own accord, they left again.

Then Justin came back, and found the hole in the wall that Brian had only had energy to patch up to at least keep the worst out, and badly so. He kicked his way back in, and Brian kicked him out again. But he kept coming back, and soon enough Brian tired of trying to get rid of him, and let him come inside the house. Instead, he built a wall inside his house, separating them. Justin was too happy to even be in there to notice, or care.

Brian kicked him out more times than he could count. Most of the times Justin came back, but a few times he stayed outside until Brian opened the door to let him in, or until Justin tired of waiting and started knocking again.

And then one day Justin got fed up, and did what Brian had watched many people fail to even try.

He took a step back and looked at the walls just like everyone else had. He walked around the house, just like Mikey. Then, he poked and prodded at them, assessing how solid they were.

His eye got sharp and he squared his shoulders...

And he kicked the walls down, stepping back to watch them fall. Then, when Brian stood there, crumbles and his precious life's work around his feet, Justin stepped up to him, and smiled.

Well, shit.

So, what did you think?

/CMS