This story is about a young person figuring out their identity in the midst of an abusive and emotionally immature mother. One of the aspects I enjoyed about this story is your use of dialogue between the main character, Aleia, and their mother. While there are tender moments (like the apologies), there are many other instances of tension between the two that never really fades away because of their relationship. I also like how you showed that Aleia is around a teenager-age through their attitude, clothing, and their thoughts. It made Aleia truly feel like a real person with a range of emotions and thoughts. I also enjoyed the fact that you didn’t shy away from a tough subject, as many LGBTQ+ individuals struggle with this exact scenario. In this sense, I think the majority of your story is realistic. I did have some questions about the meaning of the demons and what exactly their inclusion added to the story. I could be missing something, but I felt it like the demons were a physical manifestation of Aleia’s own self-destructive thoughts. Regardless of how you approach this situation, I think the story would benefit from developing a more intimate relationship between Aleia and their demons. A little suggestion would also be to italicize words you want to exaggerate instead of reverting between capitalizations within words. Personally, this aspect took me out of the story, even though I understood what you were trying to accomplish with this style. Overall, I enjoy your voice and the dark theme you’ve chosen. This is a very solid piece with room to grow!