I am an overwhelming outcast stuck in the familial confines of conventionality. I am a square in a circular mold cracking the clay plastering me. There is no one here adhering to my form. There is only strict lines, double white keeping me silently inside. I am only a stranger in a room full of people I know. My shimmering differences radiate brighter and longer than my unique humanity. I AM PETRIFIED LIKE WOOD, hiding behind my family tree. I am under fire/under a microscope a running-screaming undeniable black sheep. An experiment for all to partake and ultimately take as a joke. There is no one who sees me, only a veiled version of their uncertain hypocrisy. I am my family's genetic anomaly, who detached from conservative normality, who broke rules but never crossed lines, who refuses to die leading this traditional American life. #writing #nonfiction #creativenonfiction #cnf #prose #instagramessay #tinytruth #blacksheep #oddoneout #writer #flashnonfiction #petrifiedwood #petrifiednationalforest #arizona #iampetrifiedlikewood #fossilizedwood #fossil (at Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona.)