Bjorn always felt different.
He liked boys — something his family made clear was “wrong.” But even deeper than that, he didn’t feel like a boy at all. Every time someone called him “young man,” it felt like a lie he had to smile through.
He kept it all inside for years. Pretended. Blended in. But at night, he’d sketch someone else — someone softer, freer. A version of himself he only saw in dreams. Eventually, that version had a name: Lena.
Coming out as gay at seventeen was painful. His dad called it a phase. His mom cried and said, “What did I do wrong?” But coming out as trans was even harder. People whispered. Some stopped talking to him. One day someone at school spat near her shoes.
But Lena didn’t back down.
She found support online. A cousin who said, “I see you.” She saved up for clothes that felt like her. And when she left for college, she started hormones.
Not everyone stayed in her life. But she did.
Lena’s still here. Still growing. Still becoming.
Still her.
