"A World Of Pure...Imagination"

Ashes, Ashes, we all fall down.

Ash's long dyed ginger hair swung in front of her carefully hidden face like a sunset colored rope, whipping around her pale face as she walked almost unnoticed through the hallway. She was always rather fond of gingers, so she had convinced her mother to let her dye her hair.

She bobbed her head slightly to the music filling her head from her iPod. Ash brushed her hair away from her eyes, watching students rush to and fro to class. Some had stopped to chat to their friends joyously. She had many "friends", but chose not to converse with them outside of school for multiple reasons.

Ash clutched at the strap of her navy messenger bag, a nervous habit that had developed at the start of sixth grade. She expertly maneuvered herself through the crowded halls, hoping no one would run into her. Ash bent her head and looked down at the worn black converse that clung to her feet. She watched them seemingly speeding and slap across the ground on their way to her Drama class.

"Oh god look out!" A voice crowed in the sort of fright that you get when you go too fast on a bicycle or a scooter. The kind of halted fright that makes it seem like time has slowed down.

In a split second, Ash's head snapped up like lightning and she saw someone hurtling toward her, a boy rushing on his way to class. The boy ran into her, his book and papers flying every which way in the process of knocking her over. A gasp of empathy emitted from the boy's mouth as he realized what he'd done.

People glanced towards the scene with boredom. Accidents happened often when some idiot went speeding down the halls. The boy coughed awkwardly, scrambling to pick up his belongings. Ash clambered up from her position on the cold hallway floor, dusting herself off and picking up scattered papers.

When she reached for the book, her eyes caught the title on the cover. Divergent. A smile graced Ash's face and she picked it up to return to the boy. She held the book out to him as if it were a dangerous substance. His mumbled a embarrassed 'thank you' while he grabbed his book from Ash's outstretched hands.

The boy looked at the sullen red-head girl, studying her features quickly. He noticed that she was wearing converse similar to his own, although his were high-tops. His internal joy at her smile when she saw his book, Divergent, escalated highly. The boy whispered his thanks and almost briskly bounced away, running his hand through his wavy dark brown hair; the girl on his mind.

Ash stepped away and continued to Drama class, they were doing a continued improvisation unit today. Walking into the theatre, she breathed out a sigh. A friend waved her over to the front row, a smile plastered onto their face. A sharp twinge of pain erupted in her ankle as she walked over to the seat.

She tripped, pain shooting up her leg. Ash fell, dropping her backpack with a resounding "thunk". Her cheeks went crimson red as her classmates turned to stare. Her friend offered a hand to help her up, but Ash refused out of battered pride. She instead limped over to a blue felt seat and sunk down in it as far as she could go into the stiff padding.

The rest of the lesson passed by in a sleepy blur to Ash. Her eyes had simply refused to stay open on their own, so she had had to force them to keep her from slipping into slumber. She hadn't been sleeping well with specific problems in her life. Her ankle hurt from her collision at in the passing period. To add to that, her bratty little sister had trashed the room they shared, and Ash was left to clean it all up by herself. Dance lessons, homework, rehearsals and many other things had taken the place of every minute of Ash's free time like greedy little monsters. The kind of creatures that loved stealthily munching away on precious strips of time.

The bell for her lunch hour rang, just as Ash had started to slowly pack up her belongings. She almost always ate lunch alone, save for the occasional get together with old friends. Most days she wasn't in any hurry to get anywhere. Loneliness was like a shell for her. A cold cage with the deception of comfort. Ash had social anxiety issues to thank for her tendency to want to be alone. Thankfully they were not extreme issues, but still enough for her to dislike being around people just in case she made a fool of herself. Her mind was so full of surprises, that Ash thought her head would burst one day of nothing more than a simple laugh.

Walking leisurely to a nearby bench with her home-packed lunch, Ash started to think. Deeply. This kind of thinking could be a danger to some weak-minded people, but fortunately Ash's thinking mechanism was as strong as steel.

What she thought about wasn't relevant in any way, shape, or form to school, but relevant to herself and the boy from earlier. She let out a sad sigh, thinking that no one would ever like her in a way of true friendship.

How had she downed the flame of happiness inside her to the minuscule cinder it was now?

Yes, this is the way it was to be.

Or maybe it won't be left to rust.

Who will ever know if it all crumbles to dust?