The Inbetween

Nathan Sykes had a good life. If you asked anyone who knew of him, they would tell you just how lucky that kid really was. His parents were extremely proud of their eldest child, and his four closest friends in the world shared his luck, what with being in the same successful band as him and all. He also had a great girlfriend who loved him as much as he loved her. Yeah, Nathan Sykes did have a good life.

So why was it that every time his parents, best friends or girlfriend looked deep enough into his eyes, he never seemed truly happy?

He hid his emotions extremely well – he had to – otherwise everyone would know with one glance the secrets he sheltered from everyone but his closest friends and the people he trusted the most. He’d learned to build sky-high walls, and only let his guard down when he was around Max, Tom, Jay, Siva or Natalie. Except for his family and some of the kids he went to school with, no one knew what happened when he was sixteen, and that’s the way he wanted to keep it. When people asked him of his private life, he always made some elaboration of ‘there’s nothing to know’.

And it’s probably the biggest lie of his life.