Standing out

The photo

Rosemary:

I swooped my hand across the box. The thick dust covering it flew in the air.

"C'mon Mary, you know I can't stand-" Oph says before sneezing. "...dust"

She gives me a death glare and I almost fell backwards.

Ophelia is my sister and one of my closest friends. 

Of course, we both know we're adopted, just like Nancy, but that only made us even greater friends.

Like, sometimes I want to tell her "I hate you" but I love her too much, and sometimes I want to say "I luv you" but I hate her too much to say that.

Y'know? I'm always stuck between those two moods.

I don't know why, but me, Oph and Nan have been as close as siblings can get, even if Ophelia is younger than me by three years and Nan older by seven.

Well, maybe it's something blood related? Idk, we'll all adopted anyway.

Maybe we have a common relative? Who knows.

Anyway, since what happened three years ago, we've always stood up for each other. Maybe because we had only each other.

Both me and Oph were in the attic, looking for some Christmas lights.

Don't question it.

I get it.

It's weird.

...

Maybe I am weird.

Yeah, I'm weird.

Anyway, as the air was now filled with dust (which ain't healthy), Ophelia decided to abandon me and go in another corner to look for those dam lights.

Poor me.

I opened the box. It was filled with photos and drawings.

I smiled.

Dad was the clingy one in the family. He always told us not to miss any opportunity to get a memory. 

And that's why we have so many photos and drawings.

Since the accident, none of us even dared to think about throwing away the photos he took.

I looked at a few of them.

At the top were the new ones, and deeper we go, the older they get.

Nancy's wedding album...

Nancy's graduation photos...

Ophelia entering kindergarten...

Me entering middle school...

And then, the best one of them, with one single phrase on the back.

"leaving the park"

I could see mom grabbing Oph by the feet to get her off the slide.

Ophelia was crying, of course.

Nancy was sitting criss cross on a bench, looking at her phone.

And the best one, me.

Who was laying down on the pavement in a little pool of tears.

With dad trying to take the photo and get me up at the same time.

Gosh, isn't this photo making me feel old...

I was around 6 at the time.

Wow. Almost 11 years have passed, and I didn't die yet.

Good job me *pats myself on the back*.

I put it back in the box and continued searching.

I found my elementary school photos of me and my class.

The first one was me and Dolce's first day of elementary school. She was nervous, while I was saying "LET'S GO ALREADY" from five to five seconds.

Ah, the good ol' times.

I went thru more, until I got to the first day of 2nd grade.

It was a photo of my whole class at the start of the year.

I looked at it from left to right. In order, I saw Don, Miles, Angelica, Michelle, and many more whose name I can't remember. Then, I saw Dolce and Jenna.

After that, I saw Lea and, next to Lea was me.

I felt a lump in my throat.

I forgot about that tiny detail. 

I wasn't wearing my denim jacket that day.

I was waving at the camera.

Oh Lord.

My arms were totally visible.

I looked from the photo to my arm.

The shirt I was wearing underneath my hoodie covered my arm up to my wrist, and a leather glove covered the rest of my hand.

I slowly lifted the glove.

Underneath the leather fabric was my uncommonly pale skin, which is abnormal, as I am black.

I looked at the photo again.

From my elbow to my wrist were tons of extremely white spots.

My left shoulder was fully white.

My neck, up until my jawline, was filled with these spots as well.

I sighed.

Another bad memory.

When I was small, I felt proud to be a vitiligo, but since the accident, I've felt weird about myself.

Not ashamed or embarrassed, but just weird.

I don't really want people to stare at me because I have so many white spots all over my body. 

I just don't want to get that kind of attention.

I looked at the kids at my left.

I didn't recognize anyone, except for Thad and Sabrina.

And there was someone else who looked terribly familiar.

But I couldn't put my finger on it.

He had pale yellow hair and blue, shy eyes.

Anyway, they were either blue or grey, but I assume they were grey.

He was barely looking at the camera.

I remembered who he was, but not his name.

He was the kid who told me he doesn't like Snicker's when I gave him one.

So I ended up feeling bad and giving him one of my Twix bars.

He was nice.

Then he moved schools because...

I actually don't know.

"Mary, school starts in 15 minutes!" yelled Nan from downstairs.

I stuffed the picture in the pocket of my hoodie and ran down.

I ran down, got my bag and my lunch money and ran to my motorcycle, which was outside.

I hopped on it and turned on the engine while putting my helmet.

"Have fun!" Oph told me from the attic window.

I waved to her and drove off to school.