All Of You

Chapter Three | Calix

LUCIAN

The only good thing that happened to me after being abandoned by my parents was that I was being sent to a school. A proper school. To the one Carsten was going to.

It was the only thing that was keeping me sane, going to school, having some peace for sometime, not having to fear anyone there. Just mind my own business.

I was eight and had somehow endured three years of torture in that house but I had stopped talking. There was no one talk to and even when Mr King used to take out his anger on me, I just laid there in silence, not crying, not begging. I was done begging and had accepted my fate.

That one night where he first hit me with his belt changed me completely, I went quiet after that, a strange type of numbness took over my heart. Now, I didn't feel anything and I didn't want to either.

But then...I was in the first standard when I first met Calix.

I never talked to anyone at school, remained in my own world and then there was this kid in my class, always smiling, laughing, friends with the whole school, a little short tempered, teacher's favourite, good at studies and according to what I had heard, was a son of a famous businessman and woman.

His dark hair always a little too long, enough for it fall over his forehead and his emerald green eyes always shining and full of happiness to the point I was jealous of him. How can someone be so happy all the time?

And I even sometimes used to notice his parents coming to pick him up from school.

I was jealous of him. I wanted a carefree life like his, I wanted my parents to come pick me up from school, hell, I just wanted my parents back.

The dark clouds had covered the sky and thunder boomed at a distance as I gazed out of the window in the class, sitting in the corner most seat next to the window.

It was getting darker every minute and I enjoyed the lightning and thunder, I enjoyed the darkness. There's an odd sense of peace in the darkness maybe because we all have some darkness hidden within us.

"Lucian!" The teacher called my name and I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to her. "Are you even copying what I wrote on the blackboard?"

I didn't reply to her and picked up my pencil and started to copy...I didn't need to though, I already had studied all this. I was eight years old...I should have been in second standard but I wasn't complaining.

From the corner of my eyes I noticed someone's hand reaching for me and I flinched so hard and snapped my head towards them.

Calix sat beside me and his hand paused mid air as he was about to poke me on my shoulder. He gave me a cheeky grin. "Do you have a pencil?"

Baffled, I lifted the pencil which was in my hand to show him that I had a pencil with me.

He glanced down to my pencil and then face slammed himself. "No. I meant...do you have an extra pencil?"

I searched through my pencil box and pulled out an extra pencil and handed it to him and he said, "Thank you. What's your name?"

I didn't reply to him and kept staring at him blankly so he held out his hand. "I'm Calix. What's your name?"

I glanced between his outstretched hand and his face and I mentally sighed before turning the front page of my notebook where my name was written and showed it to him.

"Lu...Luci...an..." He read slowly and asked, "Can you not speak...?"

I refused to reply to him and went back to writing and ignored him completely, I expected him to shout at me but he just watched me for a moment and focused back on his work.