Unbound - A Journey of Escape

Hi Everyone!

In my last post, I talked about the characters in Unbound—specifically who was real and who was fictional. Today, I want to dive into something even more important: the elements that frame the story. These are the themes that define Andy’s journey.

For this post, let’s talk about escape.

The story opens with Andy at sixteen because that was the turning point of his life—the moment everything changed. It was the period when wanting to get out turned into needing to get out. His father’s abuse had shadowed his entire childhood, but by that point, the situation had escalated so much that staying wasn’t an option anymore. Time was running out, and Andy knew it.

By then, Andy had already been grappling with questions about his identity, and home life only made that struggle harder. His father’s control wasn’t just physical—it was mental. Fear and intimidation were his weapons, and that kind of psychological abuse can leave scars that last far longer than bruises. That’s why, when I wrote these scenes, I chose to focus on the mental torment rather than the physical violence. It felt truer to the reality I wanted to portray, and honestly, it was even more difficult to write because of how close it hit.

The opening chapters show what it was like for Andy to live under Daniel’s rule—walking on eggshells, holding his breath, always bracing for the next explosion every day. For a gay teenager in the 1980s, already trying to figure out who he was, that constant fear was crushing. Escape wasn’t just about leaving a house. It was about survival and, eventually, the chance to live freely as himself.

For Andy, the military became the only way out. College wasn’t an option—he didn’t have the resources or support. So he took the one path available, even knowing what it might mean for someone like him in that era.

This was one of the hardest themes to write about but also one of the most important. And I think it’s where Andy’s journey truly begins—when he decides he deserves better and takes the first step toward it.

Next time, I’ll dive into the second element, “identity.” Until then, thanks for visiting and following along with Andy’s journey.

— Chris