By Daniel Williams

While briefly touched upon in the report, alienation and a fear of discovery is a daily part of most of those who decided that they are Otherkin. I was told of one person's story early on in my research, and later was privileged to read it. The following is a synopsis of the story. Due to the intense desire by the author for this story to remain anonymous (for reasons that should become clear) I will refer to the person involved as "he", the neutral gender of the English language, and he will be given the name "Anon". It is Anon's hope (and mine as well) that those who are not Otherkin who may happen to read this will at least understand that it is not a choice to be Otherkin, but a choice to be yourself, and there are often terrible consequence that come with such choices. I will now relate his story without further comment.

Anon, in a way, had always known he was a dragon. He has distinct memories of when he was three, just knowing what a dragon was, and knowing that somehow everyone around him was different, that there was something fundamentally lost between him and his parents. As time went on, Anon forgot his first awakening.
As time went on, Anon began to become more aware of himself, and started to remember the things he had forgotten. As each day passed, the feeling of being a dragon began to truly come into focus, and these ideas became a very important part of his life. Anon needed to tell someone that he was a dragon.

Anon had always had a very string relationship with his parents, particularly becoming to trust his father a great deal. During a long car trip they had been working on a book about the importance of trust and honesty in the family. Anon was paying close attention and decided that he should try to build that trust and reveal to his father about his draconity.

He talked to his father about his beliefs, about being a dragon and thinking this since he was three, about how important these beliefs were to him. His father made a passing remark, a friendly joke, and then failed to mention anything about for a week. Anon had though he had forgotten their discussion, when his father then brought up the subject again. Anon knew that his father would take some issue, but he had been given no clue what has ahead of him.

Anon was raised in a devout, Christian home, and had always respected the word of the Bible. His father began citing verse and theological argument, trying to prove that Anon's feelings weren't genuine. Anon was told he had a mental disorder, being stubborn and not listening to reason, even possessed by demons. Anon's parents investigated every possibility, and argued incessantly for each one, except that his feelings might be real. Anon realized he was in for a difficult time, and tried to stay calm and patiently re-explain his views and how they were different from what his father was arguing, and how they really believed quite similar and there didn't need to be conflict. His parents would not relent, and on a few occasions the situation became violent.
At one point Anon's father admitted that he wasn't interesting in anything Anon had to say on the matter except to look for holes in his logic to prove him wrong. At this point Anon realized that maybe the best solution right now was to leave home, and suggested that he should move out when he became of legal age. His father responded by threatening to take away all forms of support from Anon, who hoped to go to college soon. This wasn't a good option.

His parents sent him on a Biblical study program, which Anon didn't mind at all by itself, but he was upset at being forced to read it as ant attempt to change his beliefs. Throughout this, Anon tried to restore the peace with his parents, because he loved them dearly and desperately wanted them to except them for who he was. But then it got worse.

Anon's computer time had been curtailed earlier, preventing easy contact with his online friends, his support group. He got a handheld computer that could go on the Intenet, so he could maintain contact with people who could sympathize with him. Anon had to sneak this past his father. Late at night he found Anon on the web with his computer, upset that he didn't know who his son was doing. He grabbed the computer out of Anon's hands, disconnected it form the phone line, and proceeded to read through everything, including Anon's private files.

The day afterward Anon's parent's swore to "get it up by the roots an pull it out", to "purge" Anon of his horrible disease of being himself.
All of Anon's communications with his dragon friends and emotional support were severed. The phones were lifted off their hooks at night so he couldn't call anyone, letting the phone line die off so he couldn't dial up with the modem. His handheld computer was taken away at night. Close friends, relatives, and the family were told of Anon's horrible condition. Anon felt he was a plant deprived of water so he could be more easily plucked. His parents though he was in drug detoxification.
Anon was "requested" to go to a Christina psychologist...he "accepted" to make things easier, and to prove that there really was nothing wring with him. The psychiatrist reported that Anon was perfectly sane, but still supported depriving him of his online community.

After a while Anon managed to find a few ways to briefly communicate with friends. One day when Anon came home to talk with a friend over the phone, his father came home soon afterwards and immediately picked up the phone to see of Anon was talking. His father told Anon's friend that his parents would be told about him being a dragon.
This went on for a while, and the relationship Anon maintained with his parents was becoming anemic. There was fighting between him at least one of his parents nearly every day...and often it would become physical, but Anon never thought any great harm was done. Altogether, it was a terrible time for both Anon and his parents.
His father offered family counseling, but when Anon asked further his father admitted it was just to get Anon to give up his beliefs. Furthermore, if Anon refused to go, his father would tell the parents of Anon's best friends about what was going on, and make sure he could never speak to them. Anon said that was blackmail, but his father refused to admit it.

His father became busy with finding a new church soon after that conversation, however, so the "family counseling" never occurred.

Things began to improve over the next few months. It was not pleasant, but it was manageable. Fights still occurred, but Anon had learned to keep his mouth shut. Things had relatively mellowed out, as Anon's parents had learned that their methods would not convince him to revoke his identity. Anon was even able to regain contact with his dragon friends, although it was always strained.

Throughout all this Anon could empathize with his parents. He understood it as his parent being fish, and here they were with a bear. They instinctively realized that this was not normal, and as good parents they wanted to protect him from the dangers of being different.

Then they moved.

All the old trouble started again...being forced to read theology, taking away contact with his friends. Things became again. One incident in particular sticks out in Anon's mind...

He was proofreading a friend's paper...nothing related to dragons...and decided to reduce the font to save paper. Anon's father immediately thought Anon was hiding something. When Anon showed his father that there was nothing to be angry about, his father fumed at Anon for putting on the appearances of being deceitful.
The old, intense fight were back. It felt that everything was coming in at all directions for Anon, and for the first time he though about running away from home. The only thing that kept him with his parents was he was flat broke, and had no way to make money. He had tried to get a job to pay for Internet access, but his parents refused to allow him to find work. Worse, available work was scarce already, and even if he could find something his parents could have canceled the application.
Depression was Anon's constant companion. The few times he could get on-line with his dragon friends, Anon tried to be strong but always broke down under the stress. No close friends, and irregular contact with the friends he did have, Anon felt like that withered plant than needed water.

But at this point Anon had several strokes of good fortune. Love had entered his life, and friends off-line became a vital help. As his family finished moving into his old house, they began to practice the "don't ask, don't tell" formula of conflict mediation. There were still fights, sometimes physical, but much rarer than before, and Anon felt it had mostly died off.

When Anon began planning for the future, for college, he looked forward to joining his love. But his parents managed to hear about this, and only offered to pay for the local college. Facing the sorry end of Hobson's Choice, Anon conceded. Though away from his parents, there are filters in the computers that are able to pick out communications with his draconic friends or with his love. If his parents get word of his communications, or his continued involvement with the person he hopes to spend the rest of his life with, he'll be expelled, his plans for the future ruined.

This story was related to me by third-party e-mail, at considerable risk to Anon. His story is the one I know best, but I have heard similar stories before. And now you know it, to.