Grey Nirmala
I felt sleepy; I hadn't slept at all last night; I didn't wanted to. I walked into my classroom and sat at my desk. I didn't wanted to talk to anyone right now. I had no one to talk to anyway. I looked at my desk and saw the same old bullying technique. My breaks were already being wasted trying to erase the annoying writing on my desk. I sighed. I really hate this school, but there was nothing I could do. After erasing half the writing on my desk, I laid my head down on it and must have fallen asleep, because someone nudged me to wake me up. I looked up, but when I couldn't see anyone in front of me, I looked back. A cheerful girl with long blue hair and blue eyes was sitting at the desk behind me, looking at me.
-Raya?
Raya was looking at me, a big smile on her face.
-Good morning, sleepyhead.
Raya started playing with her hair, then laughed and handed me a bag. I curiously took the bag from Raya and opened it. Inside was a bar of chocolate and two bright yellow bananas. I had no problem with chocolate, but why would anyone give someone two bananas? I looked at Raya blankly, but she just smiled at me like she knew exactly what she was doing. I tilted my head to one side and she just laughed.
What? I thought you liked bananas.
Raya said while giggling like a 5 year old. The moment Raya told me I liked bananas, I paused. How the hell did she knew that? And why did she knew that? But there was another question that I was even more curious about.
Why? What would be the sole reason to give someone two bananas?
Raya's smile grew even wider, and her eyes sparkled which warmed my heart.
Why? Of course, to make you happy, dummy.
Raya was swinging her legs under the table. I looked back at the bag and smiled. When I stopped staring at the yellowness of the bananas, I lifted my head. My eyes met Raya's deep blue ones.
"You know? Sometimes you should smile more; it suits you."
Raya stood up, giggled and then looked around.
"Don't fall asleep in class next time."
She laughed and walked out of the classroom. I picked up the box of chocolates from the bag, opened it, and saw many different shapes inside. But my hand had already grabbed one.
I twiddled the heart-shaped chocolate between my fingers. It wasn't very big, just about the size of an apricot. I popped the whole chocolate into my mouth, and after two chews, the sweet, milky chocolate was gone.
A few doomed classes later, during lunch break, I found myself under the shade of a tree in the schoolyard. It was so hot I could have taken a bath in ice. But my eyes were caught by something moving nearby. A squirrel was staring at me, its tail wagging up and down. I reached out, but before I could even grasp what was happening, it had already fled to the top of the tree. I lookd at up annoyed. The squirrel was staring at me from a branch, then it grabbed something that looked like a coconut and threw it at my head. I groaned in pain and sulkily walked away to the hallway grumpy. I walked down the hallway, my hand on my head, my face grim. Around me: lovers kissing, girls arguing with each other, boys joking, and more. I signed. I thought this day wouldn't be so bad, but of course, fate has never been on my side. I continued walking but someone I knew very well called me and ruined my already bad but also in some way nice day. I turned around and saw Nico, tall and with brown hair, and his group of stupid friends. Nico was grinning at me and applauding me with his hands for no reason.
-Grey, Grey, Grey, I really almost forgotten about you entirely today.
Nico foolishly laughed and stopped just two feet away from me, that stupid grin still on his face. Nico put one hand on my shoulder, the other hovering in the air. I took a step back, but his arm around my shoulder held me tightly.
-I don't have time for this, Nico, let me go.
My voice came out pathetic and demeaning, and it irritated me. How could I possibly sound so obnoxious? But it didn't mattered since Nico just shook his head.
"No, Grey, why would I give up on an annoying anomaly like you?"
Nico's voice was sarcastic and quite disturbing. Nico coughed deliberately and then raised a fist. Damn it. I was suddenly punched in the stomach and recoiled in pain, but Nico took away his hand from my shoulder and raised it. I closed my eyes, bracing for the worst, knowing it was coming, how the fuck did I let a slave like him make me feel more pathetic then a little rat. I waited but the next paunch never came. A sweet, cheerful voice spoke, "Hello,". When I opened my eyes, I saw Raya standing next to us with a calm, innocent smile. Nico's fist was just inches away from my face. Annoyed, Nico brought it down and moved out of my way.
"Lucky bastard."
Nico and his group of stupid friends walked away and soon disappeared. I turned to Raya, and she was looking at me with an innocent smile.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
Raya laughed and gestured for me to come, then before I knew it, she started walking, and I stood up and just followed her. Raya's hands were clasped behind her back and she was muttering some nonsense. I approached her, unsure of what to say. I didn't know why, but Raya had been talking to me more than usual today. Raya looked at me and smiled.
"You know, rabbits can jump about ten feet."
I was taken aback by what Raya had said. Why would anyone say something like that at a time like this? But Raya simply laughed.
"Would you like me to get you a stuffed rabbit sometime? I think it would suit you."
I didn't know what to say. As beautiful and intelligent as Raya was, she was also saying silly things time to time.
"A rabbit?"
"Yes! A rabbit."
Raya waved to Maki and Lulu, who were a little ahead of us and waving at her, and then turned back to me:
"I think this is my one-way ticket."
Raya laughed again:
"I guess I'll see you later, Grey."
Raya joined her two friends and headed away.
After school, I was walking home, just like I always did. But as I continued walking, I realized something was wrong. Hundreds of tiny purple particles were constantly growing around me. I distinctly remembered seeing these purple particles on my desk before. But my curiosity about these particles vanished completely when I saw something else. There was someone, no, something, in the alleyway across from me. Looking at me and gesturing with its hand to me. I didn't know what it was. It resembled a person, but it had no visible or direct physical features. The being didn't say anything, just kept gesturing with its hand to come to it. But I wasn't stupid enough to go near it. I looked away, but when did, I was still looking at the same place, and the thing was still gesturing at me. I started running, fear quickly took over my entire body. For a few minutes, I just ran, but I stopped running the moment I realized that I was still in the same place, the same place looking at the same alleyway as if I hadn't moved at all. It didn't take long to realize that my breathing had accelerated, I was scared. The thing was still looking at me and gesturing me to come, but I still didn't care, I didn't want to care and closed my eyes and did only one thing I thought was the only way for salvation. I ran, I just ran, I didn't care what was happening in front of me, I didn't want to see and I just kept running. I ran for tens of minutes, maybe hours, I could feel my body getting tired, but despite everything I did, I didn't open my eyes. It felt like hours had passed and so I stopped, but I still didn't opened my eyes. Because if I opened them and saw that I was in the same place again, I would go crazy. I sat down, touching the ground with my hands, hugging my knees and hiding my head in those small knees. I wanted to raise my head and look, but fear had taken over my entire body, but if I wanted to go home, I had to open them eventually. Even if I didn't like the sight, I raised my head and opened my eyes slowly and hesitantly. But I wish I hadn't... That thing was still there in front of me, gesturing me to come to it from that dark alleyway.
I could feel my eyes welling up with tears; I was on the verge of tears. I slowly stood up and, with my head bowed,I began to walk towards it with hesitant steps. With every step I took, it felt as if the entire world was bending in on itself. All the purple particles were floating towards that thing and taking me with them. Before I could even realized what that thing was, I found myself right in front of the being. Now that I was this close, I could more easily recognize its appearance. Those white eyes that pierced my soul, that short but shiny white hair that hurted my eyes, and that dark body that was sucking me in. I didn't know if it had a mouth, tongue, nose, or ears; it was impossible to tell even from this close. The thing held out its hand to me and waited. I guess it wanted me to do the same, because even if seconds passed, it still waited. But in the end I did so. Both afraid and hesitant I held out my right hand to it, and our hands intertwined. I was about to open my mouth to ask him a question but when I felt a sharp pain in my palm I immediately pulled my hand back. When I looked at my palm in pain, I saw a rune carved into it. The rune was black and resembled a star. The being extended its other hand to me and waited, just as it had before. This time, I waited for several minutes, afraid of experiencing the same pain, but the being before me did not withdraw its hand. We both waited, I was trying to muster up my courage.The being must have been waiting for me to muster up my courage too. Even though I hadn't yet mustered up my courage, I extended my left hand in fear, and our hands joined again. The same painful feeling in my palm reappeared, but this time I didn't pull back; I waited. But the pain was becoming increasingly unbearable with each passing second, and just as I was about to pull my hand away, the thing pulled its own hand away. When I looked at my palm, I saw that it had carved a rune into it again. This time, the rune was different; the shape of this rune resembled a vortex. While I was still examining the runes engraved on my hand, the thing, the entity suddenly stepped back and raised its right hand. The purple particles floating in the air suddenly began to gather in the thing's palm, and the beings palm began to glow with a purple light, but then all the particles disappeared just in a blink of an eye. The more I tried to grasp what was happening, the more I couldn't understand. The entity extended its airborne hand to me again, but this time, the entity's hand was glowing purple. This time, I would never touch that thing, never in my life. If what I was seeing now wasn't a dream and was actually happening, why me? Why was I the one who had to experience this? Why was fate so cruel to me?
I waited like that for minutes, maybe hours. I didn't want to reach out, I couldn't. Of course, one thing was clear: I wouldn't be able to get out of here until I shook that hand. This time, without hesitation and with a sudden burst of confidence I reached out and waited. But there wasn't just one hand reaching out. When I first reached out, I realized my other hand was also reaching out, and worse, I couldn't pull my hands back. My entire body was gripped by panic and fear. As the entity joined its own hands with mine, the light on the thing's hand slowly disappeared and began to move into my palms. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't pull my hands back. After seconds of agonizing pain that felt like literal torture, the entity released my hands, and I fell backward. This time, I didn't feel any pain in my palms; on the contrary, my palms felt relaxed. When I looked at my palms, I saw both runes glowing with a purple light. And then I looked back at the entity, I saw that it was no longer there. In its place was a book instead. I picked up the book and examined it: it looked just like the book I'd seen on my desk in my room. The cover was pitch black, just black, but the title. The title was glowing purple: "The Eye of the Void." When I looked up from the book, I realized I wasn't still in that dark scary alley, I was sitting on my bed in my room, with that black mysterious book next to me.