The problem here was words. Communication, if I was to be more general.

Lumine didn’t only mess up communication, she also actively avoided it every chance she could. She was thorny and tacit. Despite being with her almost every morning, I had merely had her speak thrice.

The same words kept creating trouble for her, to the point that someone like Professor Barnum walked on his toes around her and everyone else in class didn’t mind her absence. They probably welcomed it to some degree.

She wasn’t without blame. If I wanted to give her a hand, there were many things to consider.

That said, the issue right now was still communication.

Thankfully, I knew more than one way to communicate with someone. You didn’t need to speak to someone to communicate, from pictures to letters, they were all forms of communication.

I got to my room and started setting up my stationery on the table. It was time to get to some work.

I first poured some ink in my pen, then I neatly laid out a colored paper with some pretty borders.

And with that, I started working.

It was a little difficult to decide what to write. I wrote some words then scrapped it.

It was the first time I had been this split about a letter. While I was still scribbling on paper after paper, a few knocks rang on my door.

“Come in, it’s open,” I said. There was really only one person who would come to my room.

The door swung open and my good friend, the vice principal, Richard entered the room.

As ever, he made himself home right away. Richard rushed straight to my kitchen and made some tea.

“What are you up to?” he said. After he had made his tea. He didn’t make me any! This little!

“Where’s mine?”

“No really, why are you throwing so many papers?” Richard seemed shocked. He had seen me breeze through most letters, but this one was tough. “What is troubling you?”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

I stopped moving the pen and flipped it in my hands. I was conflicted about how to approach my student, and in front of me was someone who I considered a great teacher.

I turned my chair around and pointed at the bed. Richard nodded and took a seat.

He attentively looked around and took the first word. “Are you maybe writing a letter for inside the school? I told you not to do that the last time.”

“Inside the school? What do you mean?”

“Is the letter for the student council? You should visit personally.”

What the hell? Why would I write a letter to a student council?

“I will visit them personally when I need to,” I said, a little confused. I made a mental note to probe into this more at a later time, for now, there was a pressing question.

“Richard,” I said. “I need your help with one of my students.”

Richard raised his brows before straightening his back.

“So something was troubling you. How can I help?”

“There is one student who pushes people away all the time,” I said. “It is to a degree that people slightly dislike her.”

Richard nodded as I talked about Lumine. I never mentioned her name, but told him all the details I could. About how she was thorny from the beginning, how she never spoke with others, and then how she started avoiding me and locked herself up.

Richard crossed his arms when I finished explaining the situation. He closed his eyes and hummed before smiling at me.

“Tell me, Ethan. You make friends without any trouble, don’t you? Aren’t you ever afraid of being judged?”

It was a sudden question.

“Judged? Not really. If someone dislikes me, I just step away.”

“Right. Your social awareness is off the charts, so you don’t worry about this stuff. Well, do you ever judge someone, Ethan?”

I smirked.

“Why would I?”

Richard snapped his fingers. “That’s exactly it. I know you are around adults most of the time, so you must not be used to such a frontal display of emotions. Kids don’t wear many masks to hide what they feel. Their emotions are frequently overwhelming.”

“No masks… you mean to say, there is a relation here?”

“People who judge others are usually the ones who feel the most insecure, isn’t that right?”

“I agree,” I said. “I have seen far too many of such people.”

“So what about people who push others away?”

Ah…

“They are frequently scared of being pushed away themselves…”

Richard’s words didn’t feel like a big revelation. They weren’t. But I was never able to put a finger on it in Lumine’s case. There was something in her past, that made her speak less and avoid others.

Voluntarily or involuntarily, there was a high chance that she was left behind.

“I think I know what to do,” I told Richard.

“Will you be able to write the letter now?” He asked.

I picked up a piece of paper from the desk. “I finished while you were making tea.”

“Then what was all this about?”

“Reassurance.”

***

That night, I found myself inside the students’ dormitory.

I had killed my presence completely and avoided the gazes of the knights. As long as I wasn’t in their eye-sight, I wasn’t going to be caught.

I reached the door that said Lumine Ador and slipped a sheet of paper underneath.

I didn’t want to disturb the other children, so I left. The next few days were going to be very early days for them.