Once upon a time doesn't quite describe it. I remember everything as if I read a timeline of memories just yesterday.

June 6, 2013.
Being neglected, I was confused, as I was left to die while my happiness was crushed beneath me, even the thoughts of my future left a hole in my chest, all in the first few seconds of life.

June 11, 2013.
It was not long before I realized that my siblings didn't quite look like me, and I started to wonder where I was, who I was, and what I was, listening to triumphant cries of proud parents in the distance, I started questioning why my looks made my own mother hate me. My siblings had a mother that helped them get back up on their feet when they fell,
But why didn't I?
Then I realized that I didn't belong.
So I left.

December 2, 2013.
I swam and even ate, learning by watching other ones. But I was still alone as I did not dare to approach anyone, as my trust was long distinguished.
And each night as I stared into the starry sky alone, it was terrifying to think about what tomorrow had in store for me, wondering if I was even going to survive.
But my life was only just the beginning.

February 19, 2014.
I couldn't look up to anyone, I had no role model in my life but I tried my best, for the sake of survival, for the sake of another tomorrow.
Mastering how to fly, I craved for more things, more possibilities that fate might give me, a chance to take and perceive myself as a different swan, a better one, better than anyone else, because those were the things I went able to do.

April 15, 2017.
I met a gorgeous swan and my priorities expanded.
It was not just for my sake of survival, but her's and my future childrens' as well.

August 29, 2017.
When you tell me that I'm a responsible, loving father, without any knowledge about me whatsoever, don't, because I lost the greatest gift.
The gift of freedom and love.
Forced to live in a lonely, captive setting, watching painfully as other cygnets were adored by their parents, I cried at the edge of the lake where I wondered my worth.
Unlike my parents, I'll protect them with my life and never will I let my children experience that kind of pain, which some of them are not even my own, because no one deserves that.

That is what I believe, and this is my story.