The evening New England air was getting colder and crisper as the days slowly marched towards the beginning of Fall. The semester was starting soon, and Lee was glad to be going into his senior year at the local university. He sharply took in the air through his nose before letting out a fog off his breath. The weather had been very favorable lately: sunny cerulean skies in the day and dead clear starry skies at night. After a moment appreciating the temperature, Lee left the openness of his parent's back yard behind and trekked into the thin forest that dotted the old neighborhood. The footfall-crunch of newly fallen leaves here and there softly echoed through the wood as Lee followed the small worn path deeper into the forest. He knew the path well, having forged it himself; taking countless short hikes along it in every feasible lighting since his family moved into the house when he was in fifth grade. He even had his first kiss on this trail.
It was summer break many years back. It was the cute blonde boy down the street with those blue eyes and Lee was an unabashed adventurer. Of course, having the coolest bike on the block didn't hurt either — at least in Lee's mind. They were 10, he was nice, and Lee was smitten. It was innocent enough, though, and nothing ever came of it given Lee watched his friend move away that winter.
He brushed the summertime memory from his mind as he approached his destination — his little sanctuary in the woods. That was almost 12 years ago and in the time since, Lee became more introverted and guarded after coming to terms with his own sexuality. Now that he was a young man, he knew very well what he liked and didn't, but didn't see a reason anyone else needed to know. He had had many relationships since. Some were great. Most, terrible. But none were the reason or purpose of his nighttime jaunt, so he put it from his mind entirely.
The full moon cast the shadow of Lee's medium build across the private clearing — a granite formation that long ago pushed aside the trees as if to part a river of foliage for a peak at the sky. His brown hair, cropped short, rustled in the weak breeze that briefly kicked up. Lee surveyed the area with discerning brown eyes, and in nodding approval to himself, knelt at the granite ground.
Long worn into the rock, chalk lines criss-crossed into delicate patterns that reflected the complexities of his surroundings. Lee's rendering, meticulously developed to be in tune with the nature that surrounded the circle, amounted to his sacred place. The place where he gathered his thoughts, his feelings, and his power. Lee removed his shirt, revealing a modest definition of muscle covered by tan skin that reflected the moonlight like bronze. The 22 year-old reached out with his arms, fingers splayed in all directions. Candles flickered aflame and cast amber light that danced with the shadows across the solid rock ground. Thick rivers of hardened wax could now be seen telling of the years of practice that Lee spent out here communing with his great god and goddess, each giving him the strength he sought over, what Lee thought was, a very complicated life. The equinox was coming and the time for celebration would be at hand in a few weeks. It all made Lee happy to have something to celebrate all to himself, but for now he just wanted to clear his mind for the start of the semester.