LAST WORDS
Hannah was finishing up the nightly bed check as she approached the lake. She came upon Isaac Wilton sitting on a bench, clad in a t-shirt despite the frost hanging in the mountain air, tossing rocks into the water.
She watched him toss another rock, with his head down not paying attention to the splash as the memories spun in his head.
"Isaac?" Hannah called out; he turned his head toward her, startled. He had been placed in her group earlier that afternoon, and hadn't said anything in the few hours he had been at Mt. Horizon.
"Isaac, it's past 11 p.m. You're in violation." He didn't say anything.
Then she added, "Look, I know it's your first day, but one thing you need to understand, we have rules here. That's how we operate."
In a low voice he replied, "I couldn't sleep."
"Oh, now you can talk, huh? Well, I'm glad, Isaac, but now's not the time. Now's the time for bed -- that's the rule. Now, why don't you get on back and be glad I don't report this."
He walked past her, saying nothing more. He stopped when she added, "We can talk all you want tomorrow."
Isaac doubted that. He didn't want to be at Horizon, and had his escape already planned. He continued on to the dorm, without a backward glance.
When Isaac reached the Cliffhanger boys' dorm, after leaving Hannah by the lake, the other boys were asleep. He grabbed his toothbrush and toothpaste and went into the bathroom, switching on the light.
He looked at himself in the mirror for a few moments. In the harsh overhead lighting, his skin looked almost translucent. His dark eyes showed no light within, as if the candle of the life inside had already been snuffed out.
While standing at the sink the memories played in his head, over and over, like an unending reel of home movies.
SLAM! His chest rammed against the cold metal of the locker, and Isaac knew he would have another bruise to hide. Kenny snarled, "Sorry, Muppet, didn't see you there." Kenny's cronies laughed as they walked away.
Isaac sat down at the table in the cafeteria, to eat lunch alone again, when a pile of mashed potatoes landed on his plate. He looked up, and saw Kenny and his boys laughing, "Muppet, you looked like you could use an extra serving, you know, to grow!"
Walking down the street, dragging his bag next to him, Isaac heard them behind him, felt the pebbles rebound off of his back. "Yo, Mupp, going home to Kermit and the gang?" Kenny shouted. "Tell them I said hi!" Again his cronies laughed.
After a moment Isaac snapped out of the reverie; he hated how they picked on him for his size. He then unclipped the end of the tube and unrolled the small bag of white powder. His salvation.
He glimpsed the other sleeping Cliffhangers for a moment, ensuring that no one would interrupt him. Taking one last look at the boy in the mirror, all those times he had longed for anyone to care traipsed across his consciousness. The boy in the mirror was the only one who had ever been there for him; the only one who knew the secrets locked deep inside.
Isaac then inhaled the contents of the bag, letting it drop from his hands.