Things Never Change… Or Do They?
Some people in the world are so unaware of the dangers that surround them and of all the things that can happen to them at any time. I just wish that I could tell someone about all the things that I go through every day. Walking through a hall filled with people and sitting in health learning about how every single living thing in the world had a heart really makes me want to bite someone. I wonder what it would be like to eat something without throwing it up minutes later. Going to school is hard when you're different than everyone else.
"Zaxieth, are you listening?" My head jerked up. Everyone in the class was staring at me and even if it wasn't for the fact that I behaved differently I still think that they would think me a freak. I frowned at my teacher seeing that he was waiting for an answer from me to see if I was actually listening and so I looked at the board. Nothing was written on it and I looked back at Mr. Wiley Hayden. He was diminutive for a man his age and he had grey hair that was dwindling fast. His eyes were the color of quicksand which seemed to swallow you up if you looked into them too long.
"Are you listening?" Mr. Hayden asked again. I looked at him and nodded my head smiling. Mr. Hayden nodded his head too and went back to teaching the most boring subject on the planet. Math. I found my pencil lying on my desk very close to the edge as though it was really bored too and wanted to run away. I picked it up and started taking notes on the sheet of paper that lay in front of me.
Finally the bell rand signaling that it was lunch time and I could not be more overjoyed - as usual. I stood up and was one of the first people out the door. My locker was far down the hallway and was situated next to the big windows that covered both ends of the corridor. I really didn't mind this as long as it wasn't shining on me all the time. I had this thing that I could not explain to everyone. Whenever sun was shining on me for an extended period of time my skin would grow red and would erupt in painful red dots. When I walked down the hall it was like I had a disease or something because people always walked around me in a big arc as though they were afraid of catching something just by being too close to me. When I was two feet away from my locker I saw that she was there too putting her books inside her locker. I had, had a crush on her for as long as I could remember but I had never talked to her except to say hi. Her name was Hazel Berg and she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen or met. She had long black hair that seemed to blow in an invisible wind and every time she moved her head the light revealed a new color. Her eyes were a hazel color that reminded him of the red wood trees in California. I slowed my pace making sure that she wasn't there when I got there. I reached my locker just as Hazel closed hers. She looked over at me smiled and gave me a wave. I didn't know what to do. I just smiled at her and gave her a small wave nearly dropping my books doing so. I blushed and quickly turned to my locker and started putting in the combination. Whenever we had locker clean out I was always told to clean my locker because according to them it was extremely messy. How do they know if it's messy or not? Maybe I can only find my things when it looks like this so every time my teacher checks my locker I always make it look like it did before but the only thing was not to get caught. The first time I did it my teacher saw what I was doing and gave orders to do it all over again and this time he watched me. It was so humiliating!! I dumped my books into my "messy" locker and grabbed a cup that I had placed on the top shelf. I smiled to myself knowing what treat I was in for. Taking the cup with me I walked down to the end of the Hallway where my math class had just ended and walked down the ramp right by it. Next to me seventh and eighth graders were hurrying to their classes. I arrived in the cafeteria and looking around I found that the only seat that was left was one by the window. I sighed and walked over to that seat wondering how bad my skin would become this time. Sitting down I started sipping my drip. The warm thick liquid traveled through the straw and into my mouth. Swallowing the first sip I touched my tongue to my k-nines. They were still the same size so that was good. I put my mouth to the straw again and sipped. As the liquid entered my mouth everything around me seemed to vanish and I didn't even feel the sun touch me.
* * *
It felt like someone was thrusting a samurai sword into my arm. I had to bite the straw in my mouth to keep from screaming. I very slowly looked down at my arm opening first my right eye and then my left. The skin stretching from my right wrist to my elbow could make the red color of the setting sun shy away feeling ashamed. Red, angry bumps were slowly appearing on my arm and pain shot through me every time a bump appeared. Realizing that my cup was empty I suddenly had an excuse to stand up and get away. I was mad at myself for not bringing a long sleeved sweater to wear or something. I pulled the straw away from my mouth only to see that I had bitten the end off through all the pain in my arm. After throwing away my cup and spitting out the piece of straw in my mouth I walked out of the cafeteria to get my books from my locker. The hallways were empty except for the students with passes and the teachers who had nothing better to do than to walk the halls in their spare time. No one paid any attention to me but then why would I be special in any way at school. Most of the classrooms that I walked by were filled with students and as usual the day seemed to move faster after lunch was over. Sitting in M.O.L.P – last period of the day when we get to do our homework – I was waiting for the bell. All my homework was done and I didn't know if it was just me but all the assignments just kept getting easier and easier to do through the years. The bell finally rang signaling that it was three o'clock and gathering my books I was one of the first people out of the classroom. Walking back to my locker once again I saw that Hazel was at her locker. Wondering what she was thinking about I stopped by the water fountain pretending to get a drink.
"I wonder what the new girl will be like." What was she thinking about? What new girl? Where had she heard this? All these questions were racing through my mind just because I had become a little curious. I had to stop doing this. Shaking my head I went to get my backpack out of my locker. As usual nothing was needed and my back pack was as light as paper. Walking out of the school through the bus lobby I looked around. All around me were seventh, eighth, and ninth graders who were eagerly walking to their bus in the hopes that getting there sooner would increase their chances of coming home sooner. Other kids were waiting around talking to friends or kissing girlfriends and boyfriends. As I stood there the big yellow buses started rolling away caring the children to their homes. As I looked at them I saw a bus roll by on the street with a picture of the pyramids on them advertising the fact that they would be a wonderful get away. I sighed and looked at the ground remembering how fast my life had changed deep inside one of them. Shuddering I turned to the left and headed for the dense forest not far from the school. When I had started at this school people had asked me why I walked into the forest to get home since there was nothing in there or on the other side. All I had said was that I was taking the most direct route and it was then that people started considering me weird. I didn't mind that much. In a way I didn't mind since I didn't have to worry about protecting them. As I entered the forest it seemed like someone had flipped the light switch. It was pitch black in forest but my eyes didn't need to adjust at all. The tree I was looking for was the oldest tree in the forest. For someone who knew nothing of what this forest could do finding the tree would be impossible. After walking for about five minutes I came to a small clearing right in the middle of the forest. The clearing was not very big. It was round and just big enough for the tree that stood in the middle. The tree was about as thick as a minivan though it was about three times as tall. The tree was ancient. Come to think of it, it was about as old as I was. The leaves were all different colors like light green, dark green, orange, red, and yellow. All the leaves had special powers but all I knew was that the dark green leaves could heal wounds. About two years ago I had fallen over a root in the forest and somehow I landed on one of the leaves that came from the tree. Looking at my knee I saw that a dark green leaf had gotten stuck on my wound. I tried to pull it off but it wouldn't budge. All of a sudden the leaf disappeared leaving my knee in perfect condition as though nothing had happened. I smiled walking up to the east side of the tree and out my hand to its rough bark closing my eyes.
"Where do you wish to go?" The tree asked me inside my head.
"Home." I though back. The tree sucked me in. I still had my eyes closed from years of experience. I knew what it would look like if I opened my eyes. Colors would soar by my vision making no sense what so ever. Whenever I had to go home or to school I had to take this way. It wasn't my favorite way but it was the fastest. It always felt like someone was trying to tear me apart with the force that worked against me trying to stop me from going home. As soon as it had started it stopped. I felt my feet solid ground and I breathed out realizing that I had stopped breathing during the journey. Opening my eyes I saw my home. I smiled. I liked my home. It always made me feel so safe. I guess you can't really call my home a house. Anyone but my family would probably call it a castle. The whole castle itself filled about four acres. It had more rooms than I dared to count because let's face it. I didn't even have that long. It seemed like every day when I explored the castle even further I would find another room that I had not seen before and then whenever I tried to find it again it was impossible. It may seem weird but the rooms just seemed to appear and then disappear right after. Around the castle were gardens that looked positively dead. I wondered why my parents never worked in the garden since they had nothing better to do. A dense forest surrounded the gardens where my food ran around just waiting to be killed. Looking at the forest reminded me of how hungry half of me was and I hurried inside to see what my mom had cooked up as my snack. As I approached the huge double doors opened by themselves and before me was an extremely long hallway that leads to every door on the ground floor and the spiral staircase that led to the upper floors. There were ten floors in this castle and I lived on the top floor being the oldest of everyone even my parents. Well I guess you could call them my "parents" since we weren't really related. A smell wafted towards me and I was drawn to the kitchen at the very end of the hallway. The carpet that covered the floor looked black at first glance but it was really a midnight blue color. The walls were stone and covered with spider webs even though there were no spiders in this house. They never dared come anywhere close to this home or us for that madder.
* * *
Halfway down the hallway on the right was the big royal spiral staircase. It had a golden banister that was half as thick as an elephant's leg and silver flowers wound up the sides connected by a thin cord of silver. The thin cords of silver were decorated by silver leaves that were about the size of a walnut and looked extremely fragile. The staircase led up to the very top floor where my room is. I kept running down the hallway towards the delicious smell that was getting stronger with every step. Finally I came to the door on my left that led into the kitchen where the smell was coming from. I opened the door eagerly awaiting the food that would be sitting on the table just waiting to be devoured. On the other side of the door was a big round table that could easily fit eight people with room to spare. Standing in the doorway looking into the room I was looking at the table right in front of me with four chairs. Looking further onward was the side of the wall that was all windows. The windows let the people in the kitchen admire the garden outside that my "mom" worked on whenever it needed tending to. To my left was the small revolving door that led to the stove, refrigerator, microwave, and etc. Sitting in one of the chairs at the table was my "brother". He was in sixth grade so naturally he would be home before me since the elementary school kids were let out earlier than the middle school teenagers. He was about a foot shorter than me but he had a temper that could make a grizzly woken fresh in the middle of hibernation look like a fluffy little teddy bear. He had short brown hair and brown eyes that were exactly the same color as his hair. We had never gotten along and I'm still kicking myself for saving him. Why didn't I just let the Tiger finish him off? Oh yeah…because I was a softy back then. Curse me!!! But I had to say that I probably could never live without him even if I tried because I was, in a way, tied to him like family and I couldn't bring myself to kill him even if he could be beyond annoying at times. Coming out of the kitchen with a plait leaden with raw meat was my "mom". She was technically older than me because she was twenty-four but in birth years I was older by a few hundred years. I called her my mom because she took care of us like a normal woman would and I just felt like it was the most appropriate. She was tall with wavy red hair that reached her shoulders and brown eyes that always seemed to look beyond the person like she was trying to read your soul. She smiled at me seeing me in the room and gestured to the nearest chair. I walked in and sat down at the same time Mabel (my mom) put the plate right in front of me. I waited till her hands were out of the way before I dug in stuffing the raw meat into my mouth not caring what Marc (my brother) would think. I saw Marc rolled his eyes at me.
"Can you be any less civilized?" Marc thought. I just smiled and slowed down my rapid eating.
"How was school?" Mabel asked sitting down in the seat that was placed between Mark and me. Mark shrugged as usual saying that it was Ok which meant nothing special had happened. Mabel turned her attention to me waiting for an answer whenever I had time to speak between mouthfuls. I chewed a little slower thinking and then answered after I had swallowed.
"I heard that a new girl is starting tomorrow at our school." I shrugged as though it was nothing and Marc smiled at me and tried yet again to get into my mind. I smiled at him and produced my mental shield and then when I felt him inside my head I pushed against him using my mind power. His chair was thrust backwards as I pushed him and he flew to the floor. I started laughing until I caught the look my mom gave me and I turned my eyes back to the meat in front of me. Mark stood up and glared at me. He picked up his chair and sat down still glaring at me but not trying to enter my mind again. I cannot count the amount of times he had tried and every time he would be thrown onto the ground defeated but he still kept trying. I admired him for that but sometimes it's best just to give up.
"It's so unfair!!" Marc exclaimed. "I can enter everyone's mind except yours!! What's the deal!?" Mark was still glowering when I had finished my plate of raw meat. I stood up and walked back to the door wanting to go to my room. My mom turned to me and said "The potion is on your desk." I thanked her and opened the door walking out into the hall. I walked back to the staircase and started up to my room. My room was on the top floor so I had to climb one-hundred steps. Every floor in this castle had a hallway with doors leading off into other rooms but the top floor was one room. At the top of the stairs was a big oak door that would lead into the biggest room in the house and the first room was a small living room that had a couch and two chairs that surrounded the glass topped table I the middle. There was also a TV in the room though maybe calling it a TV was an understatement. The screen was half as big as the screens in IMAX theaters so it was more of a big flat screen then a TV. The door to the left of the main entrance led to my bedroom. Inside was a big brown four poster bed that could fit three people if it was necessary. To the right of the bed was my bed side table and on the other side of the bed was the door to my closet. On the table beside my bed was a cup filled to the brim with a sickly yellow liquid. Just looking at it made me want to throw up but I had to drink it to remain calm tonight. I grabbed the class and the drink was still very hot and holding my nose I dipped the foul smelling content into my mouth and swallowed in one gulp. The drink seared my tongue and neck as it went down and I shuddered. It was a good thing I only had to take this once every blue moon. One side of the room was covered in glass so that I could look out into my mom's garden and opposite that was a wall that was very plane but not so much. I walked into my bedroom and flung my backpack in the corner of my room. The sun was hiding behind a grey blanket so everything looked so dreary. Looking out at the forest I thought I saw someone lying on the bank of the river a few miles from my house. The moment I looked at the person there he/she turned and I swear it was looking at me. At that moment where I think we made eye contact the person stood up and ran into the forest.