My story was a happy one until I started to care about other people. Oh, why did I ever do that? I suppose I really didn't have a choice in the matter but before you start to hate me for not caring at all I will tell you a little about myself. Which is probably just my attempt to rationalize my impassiveness and make myself feel a little better but I will let you be the judge of that.
My name is Fade, I live in a simple home and my parents love and support me in everything I do. But the connection between us is just not the one that should be found in a family. That is my fault though, they always try to talk to me to find out how I am doing and spend more time with me but I just brush them away. My mother is a sweet woman and sometimes when she talks it is hard not to fall asleep because of how relaxing her voice is and I am afraid to say that has happened a couple times. She walks like a feather and dances like the wind but even under all that she has a will of steel and might even be more frightening that my father. He is almost the polar opposite of my mother being very tough, rugged and strong with a rumbling step but on the inside he has the kindest heart I have ever had the fortune of witnessing. My brothers on the other hand are a different story and probably the source of my despair. They are very jealous of my skill level in martial arts so they do everything in their power to make sure that my life is as miserable as possible. I cannot blame them for being jealous but I have attained this level of skill through eight years of hard work and perseverance. If I ever need lessons on how to use my thumbs to press buttons on a video game controller then they will be the first people that I call. Until then I will continue to do what I do best. Which I realize that due to my ramblings I have failed to explain to you. It is something that not many people know about me but as a matter of fact I have been in martial arts training for almost nine years now and am working on winning my eighth national championship martial arts medal. I am also the first person ever to accomplish this feat by the age of seventeen. The cause of no one knowing this is due to two reasons. The first is that when I am in the tournaments I wear a mask – which looks sweet if I do say so myself - and the second is due to how I look. Many people describe me as having a baby face but I disagree with them. I think that it may only seem like it because of how tall I am. Or maybe how short I am would be a better choice of words as I am only five feet six inches tall. My mother says that they say I am baby like because of my darker green eyes that are apparently very warm. I'm not so sure about that either. However, even after all the criticism for being short or light or "walking like a butterfly" I am still very proud of how I look because I am who I am and I don't want to change that. My real problem comes from a different source.
It all started on a day that I had a feeling would be different but I really had no proof so I just went through with it as I would any other day. Normally everyone in school will ignore me and even give me a wide birth because of how much the bullies in school like me. They aren't really the actual bullies of our school. They just think that they are and tend to act like it all the time. The first ones name is Plank, probably named after the board across the creek behind his house. The second one is Fisher and I have no idea where that came from as his father is a welder. Plank is probably appropriately named because he has a very solid form and always walks around with a clanking sound from being very heavy. Probably with most of his weight in his shoulders. Fisher on the other hand is more the fun poking little guy that is always behind him pushing him on or annoying everyone. I would be very proud to say that he is smaller than me but unfortunately he has a good four inches on me at least. That may be why he likes to pick on me so much. Anyway for some reason on this day everyone was walking normally past me almost as though I was once again invisible. I soon found out why. Apparently there was a new transfer student here that was forced to transfer for reasons that are currently unknown. Anyway he scared the socks off of Plank making him the new scariest person in school. Plus no one is afraid of Plank anymore because of seeing him run away screaming. I only have a rough explanation of this new scary person who's name is something stupid like Phat or something like that. I'm probably the only one in this school who knows that phat means excellent or attractive. I wonder if he even knows. Anyway he likes to wear steel toed boots, a trench coat, and as many chains as is possible to attach to a pair of pants. Basically your average killer out of juvy. I sure hope he doesn't choose me as his picking on target too.
The problem itself probably started a couple days after that. Everyone was getting used to Phat's presence and started to calm down a little and school was starting to get back to normal. Plank still wasn't trying to bully anyone either so that was also a blessing that came out of this. It was on that day that the strangest thing that had every happened to me took place. It was in science class and we were once again looking for a partner for our science lab. I was getting ready to do the whole thing all by myself once again when Kayla came up to me and asked if we could work together. I can honestly say that I would have been less surprised if Santa came up to me and told me he was a horse but no, when I rubbed my eyes and recovered I realized that it really had just happened. Then I realized that she was still awkwardly standing there waiting for an answer. I got the best form of the word "sure" that I could out and she sat down beside me. The rest of the class was looking at me now trying to figure out what had just happened and I don't blame them. If I were to compare her to someone it would have to be my mother except for a few differences. First of all I am actually attracted to her but mostly the way that she glides around the room and every eye in the room follows her. Her hair is almost at her shoulders now and burns deeply red, she has a small face complimented by her glasses that rest perfectly on her nose. If there is a cuter creation on this planet that I haven't heard of it yet. Then she started talking to me. I would say that her voice sounded like a thousand song birds singing in harmony but that would be a lie. I think that would sound terrible and probably make you end up with a headache. No, this was a soft murmur of a kitten, a soothing gush of the wind and the relaxing sensation of the shade all put together into one little word, gaa. Oh sorry, that was the sound that I made when I tried to reply. I'm not sure how long she was talking all I know is that she stopped so I had to talk back now and it didn't really work. It seemed to amuse her though as she giggled and said that we had to get to work. Now the word work I can agree with so we started working on the assignment. She surprised me again when we were doing the calculations for the lab. She knew all the formulas and how to use them. Her mental calculation abilities weren't quite on my level but she was close which was still quite something. The bell rang and I snapped back to reality and she was walking away. I remember thinking "well there goes my one hour long taste of what being noticed is" and I believed myself to be correct then too.
I was surprised again the next day. It was during lunch which is before my science class when she asked to sit with me once again. I knew then that I had to question reality and decided to look around the room. Sure enough there it was, that stinking look that is only given to those who are regarded as less than human but there was something strange about it this time. They weren't looking at me. She didn't seem to notice though. I am sure that she knew what was going on but she took no word of it and just continued to talk and laugh as if she didn't have a care in the world. I continued to listen and laugh along but I knew that I had to get to the bottom of this. I found my answer shortly after science class when I said goodbye to her and went to my locker and sure enough there stood Plank and Fisher. I casually walked up to them and said hello as I was in too good of a mood to be scared of them at the moment. There was something wrong with this situation though. There was a look of concern on their faces as I walked up and as I started to open my locker Fisher spoke in a voice that wasn't in the least amount annoying and sounded like a real person. The first thing that he said was "stay away from Kayla" but that didn't surprise me as much as the second thing that he said. Apparently the reason that everyone was ignoring her was because Mr. Juvy Killer had taken a liking to her. They stood straight up and left without another word. I had a lot of thinking to do that night and I finally came to a conclusion, there was no way that I was giving my only chance at a life get away just because some big tough guy wanted her too. If he really wants her that much then he is going to have to fight me for her and then he will find out a little surprise.
My heroic attitude was completely wasted that next day. It was early in the morning and I had just arrived at my locker. I always get there when the teachers do so I can avoid the morning rush and get to my class on time so the sun was barely up and the cars had not yet scared away the happy morning birds. Then for some reason my head was moving at a highly accelerated pace towards my locker. I tried to put my hand out to stop it but it was not use. This force was too great for my small body to defeat and it had got me by surprise. After the crash into the locker the pain was insane. I could feel the warm blood start to gush from my nose and then my ever so kind attacker decided to relieve the pain from my face by delivering an unwelcomed knee into my stomach. I fell to the ground writhing in pain and put a hand out to try to stop whatever was coming next as I heard the snap of my pinky finger followed by the clink on a steel toe. I fell over on my back finally resigning myself to the pain as his image slowly faded and I heard a faint "stay away from her you little $#!". I saw another kick coming toward my face but luckily it didn't reach it before I blacked out.
I woke up what must have been at least a week later in a hospital bed. There wasn't any pain anymore. It seemed that there were plenty of drugs in me that were saving me from that at least. As long as I didn't move. Then I tried to wiggle my finger and I found some unexpected resistance. I could not see what it was because of my nose being in the way but I could tell three things from what I could feel. First, this was not the hand of anyone from my family as it was too small. Second, this hand belonged to a girl. Thirdly, this hand was also holding mine. The realization came to me very quickly but I told myself that it could not be true. That would be the sweetest thing ever and there is no way that would happen to me. Sure enough it responded to my hand moving and I started to hear her cry. I then knew that I had to see her and even though it was a greater pain than I could remember I turned my head and there she was. Those tears were for me.
The next thirty days of my life were the best ones ever. I got out of my school work because of my broken finger and Kayla came to visit me every day after school. She helped me finally get out of bed when I was ready and she stayed with me the whole night that I found out that the steel object had exploded my left eye and it will never be able to be replaced. The anger that I held for Phat was only being subsided by the fact the she was still by my side, but this could not last forever. So every single day when she was in school I trained myself to learn to move in this new body and taught it to fight with one less eye. I would not be caught by surprise the next time that he came after me. Which I had hoped would not be for a while as I am not entirely a fan of conflict but I knew the time had come one day when Kayla came to my room crying because of Phat. In my absence Kayla had become good friends with Fisher and Plank and now Mr. Fat was threatening to take out their eyes too if she did not choose to go out with him. I knew what I had to do.
The next day I got up early as I always did and headed out for the school to meet that evil little parasite that has become such an eyesore in my life. I had issued a challenge to fight for her the night before and this time I am going to make sure that he is the one who loses an eye. As I was walking to the school I realized that I should have picked the park for this clash. The morning birds would make such nice background music for us. He can have the crow but I want the blue jay, and there is our crow now and he even brought along his little baby crows. Baby meaning two others who look almost just like him and are probably just as experienced in fighting as he is. They obviously saw me coming as they instantly took their formation. Phat seemed to be the leader of the pack and took point against me. There was no point in trying to talk myself out of this one anymore. He started this, but I am going to finish it. I stopped ten feet away from him and we stared each other down for what seemed like an hour. Suddenly the goon on his right whipped out a rock from behind him. I barely dodged by doing a horizontal three sixty and in mid turn I saw the other goon coming at me. Apparently Phat just wants to finish me off. We will see how that goes for him but I must concentrate on the now. Goon number two has almost reached me. I completed my three sixty and the moment my feet touched the ground they left it again to send my into a back flip which connected my foot with goon two's face. This staggered him just long enough for goon one to slip around beside me and come in with a sideways kick. I easily dodged that by ducking and it beautifully connected with goon two's stomach. Then there was a crunch behind me and I instinctively ducked again. A fist flew right where my head was a moment before and I kicked off the ground to send my foot right into Phat's face. Then things escalated a little. Their formation was a success and they not had me in a close three point triangle between them throwing punches, kicks and jabs it was all that I could do just to dodge let alone attack. I can tell that they are becoming frustrated though as that last punch was a lot faster but aimed more poorly. Then something changed and the situation changed for the worse. Apparently Kayla had heard of my challenge from Phat who was bragging to her that he would finish me off today and there she was with Fisher and Plank running towards us. The two goons turned to face them as I continued to spar with Phat but I knew that they would be no match for Phat's goons. I had to end this quickly. I was about to go straight for his jugular in order to knock him out when I heard the exact sound that I had been waiting for. One hundred seventy degrees to my left and twenty degrees down I heard the unsheathing of a knife. They were going to kill my friends! I jumped as high as I could and pushed off Phat's face in order to send myself into a back flip to face that dreaded piece of metal that was threatening my friends. I landed and then it happened. The whole world stopped as pain once again surged through my body and the stars started dancing for me. I pushed him back as hard as I could as they started to try to run away from the cops showing up. This time the crow has out flown the blue jay and as I fell to the ground serenaded by the sound of a Phoenix calling my name. I can believe that I actually won her heart in the time that I knew her but as the world faded I thought of how easy it would have been not to have gotten involved in the affairs of others and just lived out my life in peace. I hope my little phoenix won't be mad at me for this one…
What is being expressed about humanity through the character's journey and conflict?
The point that I was trying to make about humanity through this story was that no matter how hated, run down or unwanted we may feel if there comes a time to do the right thing our God given conscience will always tell us what the right thing to do is and that is part of what makes us human.