"God. This is an awful place. Please let me outta here!"
[It wasn’t like this a while ago.]
[I don’t want to be in here]
[I don’t want to be alone]
[I – I wanna go home]
This, is my current state.
The current state of a 2nd year high school boy who was just merrily talking to his friends about his favourite “topic” in class.
Trapped in an abyss of void with nothing to stand, hold, nor grip on.
Everything is black.
Everything is dark.
You’ll even hear your heartbeat ringing through your ears accompanied by a high pitch noise which originates from god knows where. It truly is a wonderful example of torture.
Sure, I may be curious on what’s the end of this tunnel-like prison, maybe there will be light and I’ll appear in front of my friends like some magician, but no. It isn’t like that.
This prison proved every expectation I have, a mere fantasy.
And I have nothing left.
[….hah.]
[Ha. Haha. Hahahah!]
[So now I’m doomed?]
[Is that it? This. This is really a nice joke eh?]
[Hehe. He.]
*sniff
I hugged my knees as water came flowing down my face. Rolling in air, like there’s no gravity. Ache sprouted within my chest and I clutched it.
[I want to go home]
*sob
[ I miss them]
____________________________________________________________
A few days ago…
*SLAP
“You thick headed brat! Do you think you get to eat here without a care? Does. Your. Head know that you don’t get to eat for today?”
*SLAP
“If I see you nibbling the food on the table again, I. Will. Cut. Your. Fucking tongue. Got that?”
The boy trembled in his uniform as his father held his face. His face, flowing with salty liquid, snot and disheveled hair. With beaten hands, he tried to break free from his father’s grasp.
“GOT THAT?”
He let out a noise which probably meant as a yes and his father let go. He touched his face as pain lingered in it. Heavy footsteps going away can be heard and it was the sound of intense relief for the boy.
[Ow. It hurts]
Suddenly, pain erupted from his head as he caressed his face.
“Gah!”
Excruciating pain was spreading in his head. It was like a wildfire that tortured him. And as he held his head to suppress the pain, something in him changed slowly.
Rime formed at the edges of the table where the food was. The water in the glass started to cool. The temperature dropped.
After a little while, the pain subsided and so was the ice starting to form. He then painfully treaded to the kitchen. There a red basin, as tall as a washing machine lay in the corner. Inside, it looked like nothing else was there except for the seemingly floating ice and cold water. As he dipped his head inside, cold water rushed to his face. It was so cold it measured about 10 degrees Celsius. Be it that way, it can hide his bruises and cuts made by his parents.
[Everything will be fine.]
[It will be fine]
As he dried his face with a towel, he hurriedly went to the door and closed it. As fast as he could, he ran on the sidewalk with all his might as if something’s going to get him.
The neighborhood where he grew up was no better. Everyone was expecting something of him, something groundbreaking in which a rich child should do. But he didn't want to be like that.
No.
He wasn't like that.
He looked back at his house. It wasn't really a poor man's house. In fact, it was 3 story high with a front lawn fashioned with gardening stuff and whatnot. A terrace which was quite large and also a garage. Surely, it isn't just a poor nor average house. It was a little above that.
[Someday.]
[I’ll escape from this hell]
And with that, he walked the rest of the way to his school.
____________________________________________________________
“Hahahahah! That was the best Ken! I didn’t know you would do that!”
Bryan punched my shoulder as he remembered our experience just a while ago. It wasn’t something grand, but it was mischievous. With a bucket of water on top of a classroom door, a student will be a victim of the lowly prank. As one did open the door, water came tumbling down and the student got wet. Wait, scratch that. Drenched.
“That was really bad. We shouldn’t do this anymore. Your dares are gonna hurt somebody.”
“But you still did it! Come on now, Mr. Oh hero-of-Justice-and-benevolence. Let this insolent fool play tricks with you”
“Stop that. I’ll go talk to someone else”
“Wait no! Man! That was a joke!”
“Yeah I got that. I’m just bored right no-
The door opened rather loudly and all eyes was set on a boy. Everything was fine with him. His clothes were the same as his. He had his I.D hanging from his neck. His shoes were rather finer than what he has now. He was also the same old boy that he was but,
“What the?”
His hair was white.
____________________________________________________________
As I entered the room, everybody was looking at me and gaping like they saw a ghost.
“What is it?”
And when I asked them, they just stared at my face. Some wore an expression of concern and pity, while some was just, staring.
No.
Did they perhaps notice my bruises?
Shit. Wait no this is bad I gotta-
“Did you dye your hairwhite?”
“I-uh. Wait what?”
The one who asked me was a short guy with dirty blonde hair. He wore glasses and he had his uniform jacket unbuttoned, revealing the white polo we wear underneath the jacket. He also had his hair tied up with a man bun. I think he was the class president?
Yes. I think I’m right.
He should be “Ken”
“I said, did you dye your hair white? You do know the school doesn’t allow dying the hair right?”
I know that captain obvious! But my hair? Is white?
So that's why they pitied me, 'cause I'll probably get scolded at the guidance. But, I don’t remember dying my hair. Nor I even remember going outside the house, except when I go to school.
“You should go to the nurse's office and have Miss Murie fix that hair of yours"
“But, I didn’t dye it”
Silence filled the classroom in the first few seconds, and hushed voices followed.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“I-uh okay I’ll go now”
I turned back and headed for the door. This must all be a ruse right? Why would I dye my hair white?
Just when I was about to go outside the classroom, Ken called out to me and offered a company.
“Uhm. Why?”
“…Why not?”
I can't trust this guy. I've seen too many instances where I always get the short stick.
One time in my 1st year days, I unknowingly violated a minor rule with a classmate. He only invited me to ‘just watch’ a simple yet indubitably illegal action inside the school premises. It was really a minor crime that can be overlooked, but a single bastard chose to push me in the pits of hell. It was the one who invited me. He framed me of what he did.
After I got scolded for an action I didn't even do, I went ahead ignoring him and shutting off everyone. I would never forget that memory. But I was glad he did that.
Why? I learned a lesson from it.
"Don't trust anyone"
Oh and also,
"Everyone is a jerk"
I'm sure he'll just tell the nurse I violated the rules. I need to send him back there.
“I-I can handle myself just fine. I'm not like sick or anything.”
He looked at me with a confused face. He's probably faking it since I've figured him out.
“L-look, Mr. President you can go back to the room to handle some… Presidential stuff. Right? So yeah I'm really just fine”
“Will, come on now, don't be shy. I'm here as your friend!”
Ugh.
Just the mere word makes me shudder. People with the so-called ‘friends’ don't really have these ‘friends’. If you look at it closely, friends are just there because they ‘want’ something. Something that can 'benefit' them. Fun ,company, money, victory, people to hang out with. They're merely 'illusions' that tell you that you are not alone in this world. But out of your made-up fantasy, you can only rely on yourself to get you through the day. No one will help you.
So please, just go now, I don't want your ‘f-i-e-n-dship’ in here.
As I was busy thinking that, we already arrived at the nurse’s office. A door was just in front of us with a glass window. Ken offered the door like I was the lady and we got in.
[This bastard! Going as far as insulting me before getting me in trouble!]
In here, a table was just at our left side and it was facing the wall to the right. On it were stacks of paper that seem to be medical certificates and some other medical stuff. There was also a weighing scale at the corner of the room and a scale which measures height just beside it. Inside, there were another two rooms that led to the inner parts of the office where the nurse does her stuff. It was also really cool since there was an air-con installed. I wish my classroom had one.
There was also a mirror inside so I took a look at myself.
My hair wasn't exactly all white. It was like a creeping vine that slowly invaded my hair with white dye. The upper part was pure white and it turns from silver to gray to black when it reaches the end of my hair. I was shocked to see for myself that I did violate a rule.
I'm screwed.
Ken walked and knocked at the door to the right when the nurse came out from the door from the left side just in time and offered us the seat.
I didn't know our president was an airhead.
She instantly noticed my white hair and led me to the washing room just so she can wash it away.
Albeit being one of the school staff, Miss Murie never tells the guidance counselor when a student violates a rule, no matter how major, if they're injured. Besides, a patient needs to rest.
But, it was that moment that an incident occurred.
As we neared the tub with water, my head was shot with pain and I held my head. I kneeled down to steady myself and I heard concerned voices around me. Ringing through my ears was a high pitch noise that almost broke my head. My eyesight went from 20-20 to a ridiculously blurred vision and I can't see anything normally. I can feel my body rising in temperature. I can't handle the heat.
I thought I was dying.
____________________________________________________________
Will insisted on sending me back to the room. He was restless with me being here. I'm certain he's not ‘that’ uncomfortable with me, he just doesn't like company.
Maybe he thought I’ll tell the teachers of him violating a minor rule?
“L-look, Mr. President you can go back to the room and handle some… Presidential stuff. Right? So yeah I'm really just fine”
“Will, come on now, don't be shy. I'm here as your friend!”
I wonder if he really was my friend. I'm halfway there befriending almost everyone in the classroom and there were just the loners and some geeks left. I don't hate them really. In fact I kinda admire them. They chose to walk on a different path that lead to their goal of satisfaction and I too was walking a different path.
Everyone is.
As I was thinking that, I offered him the door and he just went inside without batting me an eye. He's really just nervous. I can tell.
The first thing Will did was look at the mirror. Huh, so he really didn't dye his hair?
When the nurse came, Will was led to the washroom to wash his hair with a dye remover. It'll be then 15 minutes of waiting before all of it will be washed away. Hopefully.
But,
Suddenly, Will collapsed. He was holding his head and taking shallow breaths. The nurse was quick to do her job but I stood there staring. It wasn't his trembling, sweaty body that managed to freeze me on my place, it was his rapid whitening of hair. It was so bizarre I couldn't help but stare. When the nurse shouted at me to help her, I scrambled to Will’s side while the nurse left to get some first aid kit.
I tried fanning him air, but it was no good. He was still sweating and his hair was continuously performing its sacred ceremony of whitening. I supported him and walked to the table when pain erupted from my head. It was like, his bad conditions were shared to me. My vision blurred. I sweated. I witnessed hell.
I though I was going to die.
____________________________________________________________
The first aid kit fell from her hands as she went back to the room where the two boys were.
“They're gone”