Darlene sat on the couch in her tiny, shoebox apartment. At the moment, she was watching a movie. Alone, of course, for she was always alone. Tears in her hazel eyes, she turned it off.
"I hate romances." She said. 'Then why do you watch them?' A voice in her head asked. "Shut up."
She was often thought crazy whenever she engaged into one of these one-sided coversations. Not that it bothered her, past experience had taught her to avoid people at all costs. Well, at least people with rounded ears anyway.
She had been five when she first discovered how different she was from the rest of the human race. 'I hate people.' She thought.
Darlene had been happy to go to school, until one little boy pointed to her and laughed.
"Hey look! She as pointy ears! She's a freak!"
"That's enough Billy." The teacher scolded.
"Freak." Came the taunts of her classmates. Darlene covered her ears in a fultile attempt to block out the cruel words of her classmates. She sank to the floor, trembling with terror. She was snatched from the floor and dragged to the principal's office.
"I don't want this child in my classroom."
"What happened?"
"This child insists on wearing ear props to school, she is a disturbance to the class."
"They aren't props." Darlene said. Her voice barely above a whisper. The teacher gaped.
"She is a freak. Have someone else teach her, I won't."
She let go of Darlene and turned to leave.
"Come little one, I'll call your parents and they can come to get you."
Darlene still hated other people. Well, at least she envied them. They all fit in with one another, while she didn't fit in anywhere. After the taunting, her parents sent her to different schools. She had one friend in the thirteen years she spent in school. This girl was the only one who didn't care who she was on the outside.
She thought of the one friend she made in eight grade. Her best and only friend. As if on cue, the door opened and her friend came in.
"Knock, knock."
"Carrie."
"Your mom thought you might be lonely, so here I am."
"Carrie, you have a family now, they need you."
"And so do you. Come on, let's go to my place and annoy them."
"Really?"
"Yeah, come on, get dresses and we'll have a great time."
Darlene went into the tiny bedroom and began to get ready. Combing her spidersilk black hair, she realized that she wasn't quite as alone in the world as she had originally thought. Her glance strayed to a picture taken in high school.
"I can't believe you still have that picture. And you look gorgeous."
"When are you and Karl getting married?"
"Not for a while kiddo. Now let's go."