"Inside Out"
Our scene is an ordinary high school in Scottsdale, Arizona. A quiet hallway waits to be filled by flying papers, rolling pens, trivial conversations and seemingly groundbreaking rumors. A bell rings loudly and students crowd the hallways at Notre Dame Prep. Chatter runs throughout the corridors and vibrates along the row of long lockers. It is like watching a feeding frenzy among sharks each one trying to get the meat first, or gazelles running to their families in fear of an approaching lion. Who are the predators and who are the prey? Although they are transparent you see the cliques instantly. Much like the animal kingdom, one must not approach that of another species.
If you have ever approached someone out of your level on the social ladder then you know that it is like a different world to leave the small circle of one's posse. Unfortunately our friend Nikkyo Grozicki had no friends and therefore no fear to leave his nonexistent group as he approached another being with no knowledge of this common human law. However this was not an ordinary creature; she was above them all Nikkyo could tell that. She was Kaylee Johnson, the most popular girl in school and Nikkyo was walking straight toward her.
She was dressed in her Notre Dame Prep uniform, just as all the other girls. She had a gray and purple plaid skirt and a purple collared shirt reading "Saints" just below the neckline. Her straight blonde hair was tied up in a long ponytail as she mingled with her friends by their lockers. As Nikkyo walked toward Kaylee her perfectly caked on face shifted into a glare. She eyed Nikkyo coldly. Her icy blue eyes pierced through him.
"What are you wearing you freak?" Kaylee smirked. Although the boys were also required to wear uniforms, Nikkyo always knew how to stand out, often pairing his kakis and dress shirts with tin foil or various gadgets. To be seen with Nikkyo was simply social suicide, therefore he had no acquaintances. Kaylee's intentions of this torment were harsh, but Nikkyo only took it as a friendly question met with a smile.
"Well this," Nikkyo pointed to a strange beeping flashing widget that appeared to be duct taped onto his chest, "this is a sound decoding radar,"
"Looking for your way back to the moon?" Kaylee and her friends cackled.
Nikkyo look giddy, "Well actually-"
"Shove it geek, the only way you're getting back up there," Kaylee pointed her index finger upwards, "is when the football team kills you,"
Nikkyo felt slightly discouraged at this, but remembering he had no nervous system proceeded with his original goal, "Kaylee I was actually wondering, if you would do me the honor of accompanying me to the Winter Formal?"
Kaylee laughed scornfully, "Even if you were the last person on—"
"Of course she will!" Kaylee's friend Mandy interrupted as she covered her hand over Kaylee's mouth.
Kaylee smacked Mandy's hand unforgivingly, "What's wrong with you? I don't want nasty 'Manly Mandy Man-Hands' touching my face, you'll mess up my make-up, and I sure as hell don't want to go to the dance with Nik the freak! Now stop standing so close to me Mandy, I'll catch your manliness,"
Mandy leaned over, her brunette hair falling over Kaylee's shoulder as she whispered into Kaylee's ear. Nikkyo was sure Kaylee probably smelled like the fancy perfumes at the department stores, the girly scents that are like running through a meadow of fresh flowers or the semi-musky smells of the forests. The girls turned toward him, both of them smirking mischievously.
Kaylee took his hand and batted her long lashes, "Of course, I'll go to the dance with you. Hey meet me at 5th period in the quad I need to tell you something," She bit her lip and smiled. Her cherry lip gloss tasted sweet like candy on her tongue. Many boys knew this taste at Notre Dame Prep, Kaylee was quite the heartbreaker and was not about to lose that reputation. Nor was she to lose the status of a first-class mean girl.
Later that day Nikkyo made his way down to the quad. He knew it well and often spent his nights on a bench neighboring the Saints' statue staring up the moon and the stars and questioning what use this planet was to him. He had come here from an unnamed, unidentified, unknown planet form the vast depths of space in search of living proof of love. He reached the quad and stood there bewildered. It was not, in fact, occupied by his new personal interest, but by multiple sports players dressed to their uniforms.
"Hey there Grozicki, come here," barked one of the boys Nikkyo recognized from his history class, "We need to have a little talk with you about messing with my Kaylee,"
Nikkyo looked even more confused and anxious, was this true? Was the girl he pursued with another? If so, what did Nikkyo have to do with it? "Gosh," Nikkyo mused, "things are much too complicated on this inferior planet,"
Nikkyo was too caught up in his own agenda to see that some of the boys began to walk toward him. He couldn't tell how many but he knew he was surrounded once he got back to reality from his complex thoughts. More questions circled around his mind but he was trying to concentrate. If he was to become his real form someone could be injured, or worse. He felt strange as two boys began to pick him up by his collar. As the boys form a line in front of him Nikkyo started to feel tingling all over. Once each boy stepped up to punch him Nikkyo felt the ongoing tingling grow stronger. The ignorant sports players dropped Nikkyo to the ground, laughing at all they had done.
You will find often that if you are in a fight, verbal or nonverbal, each person does not know the true strengths of their opponent. This is because they have never tried to understand the other, instead they have lived off assumptions and outdated stereotypes to gain their information. So as the various members of different sports teams gathered at the quad during 5th period, (as they were instructed), they expected a geek, weirdo, freak with the strength of a pea, which made them completely unprepared for what happened next.
A giant flash of light crashed out from Nikkyo like a wave, touching every clump of grass on campus. They boys turned around to see Nikkyo but they were met with fear. An alien with total black eyes that took up half his 'face' looked straight at them. His head did not exactly have a face but in its place a giant throbbing unidentifiable organ. Where his stomach should be was a pair of teeth, long and sharp making odd noises similar to a dog or a drowning bear. He, It, was naked but instead of various things of the human body, (fingernails, genitalia, naval, etc.), skin was like a gruesome Barbie doll. It was an odd dark green tint, almost black. He had no legs or feet, just tentacles yet they had no suction cups, instead they were more like snakes that could stretch themselves like elastic.
The alien started to make noises that were distinctive, unmatchable, like a mix of the unique calling of a single bird and the hissing of a cat. He had chased the boys inside by now. His odd tail that matched the tentacles banged against the lockers. From his neck down to his spine to his tail, single silver spikes began to appear that busted the lockers open. The lights flickered; static and screeching noises came from the intercom and began playing an eerie version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and Nikkyo began feasting on many of the students each time he grew stronger.
One of the boys who had confronted Nikkyo in the quad ran to find Kaylee, perhaps she would be able to help convince Nikkyo that although he was not human he was still humane. Running as the lights flickered and sparks flew, cords dangled. He found Kaylee couching behind a fallen busted set of lockers.
He crouched down and put his hand on her shoulder, "Kaylee, you've got convince him to stop this,"
She looked utterly dazed "I can't control some monster, are you freaking insane?" she asked her familiar classmate.
"You caused this! That THING is Nikkyo Grozicki, and I'm pretty sure he just ate half of the freshman class,"
Kaylee looked as if she hadn't slept in days, already exhausted from the thought of approaching what was now her problem, a problem she had created for herself. The teenage boy told her where Nikkyo was and she managed to reach him without fainting. Looking at him was overwhelming knowing how much heartbreak and grief she had caused.
Her voice was soft and uneasy, "Nikkyo? Nikkyo, it's me Kaylee, I just wanted to say it's not right to take all this out of everybody when it's my fault. I told the guys to hurt you in the courtyard. I said yes to your dance offering as a joke, I was just going to go with the football captain…"
Nikkyo let out a soft growl and held out his tentacle, Kaylee out her hand in it and Nikkyo led them to his space pod which started slowly but in a matter of seconds a flash in the sky led them to the mothership. If you are looking for a romantic ending do not continue this story, simply remain baffled that Nikkyo forgave her and took her to his home with no consequences.
Kaylee was taken to the other aliens as a specimen and prisoner. Proof that love does not exist and that someone can be hateful and yet still contain to have visible emotions. Kaylee died after multiple experiments testing her physical, mental, and emotional pain capacity. She went crazy after two years of being captured and passed away after twelve years of experimentation. Her body was brought to a quad at a small high school in Scottsdale, Arizona. Her blood found on the wall and ground where she once had stood. Her evil ways of breaking hearts and causing bad blood between friends were met with every torture.
Some will call this tale gory, others will say it's a sick and twisted story created by the minds of a psychopath however this is neither of these things. It is not gruesome and horrid, but karma's course for this young girl who stumbled along the wrong prey. She had chosen a gazelle whose best friend was an overhang to push its predator off of. Her fate had caught up with her. I must also state that this was not written by the mind of a psychopath nor is it a tale. It is the sad, sad, truth of Kaylee Johnson.
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