In this area, the lights never come on, there are no visitors, and it's always dead silent. The houses stand empty without residents, and no one wants to buy a home here.
Twelve-year-old Luke Campbell suffers from loneliness - he has no friends, an...
The next days were no different from the previous ones for Luke Campbell – the same hated walls of the tedious school, the same indifferent teachers, idiot classmates, and not a glimmer of hope for the slightest improvement. The adults pretended not to notice anything, and the boy pretended that everything was fine with him – a terrible game in a terrible society.
Jack Parker didn't seem at all upset after that nasty incident with the threats – on the contrary, it seemed to give him another reason for pride. He gathered his foolish friends around him and proudly boasted, "I have no idea which brat dared to write me this stupid stuff, but they will regret it. I'll show them who to be afraid of around here." And all the other fools eagerly supported their pack leader.
"Hey, invisible boy!" Bobby hissed after noticing Luke. "What, cowering like a puppy? Come on, show us, get back at us! Don't be a wimp!"
They always saw him as an easy target.Luke, not well-developed physically, knew he didn't stand a chance against Jack and his friends. He tried to avoid eye contact and walk past them quickly, but it was too late. They surrounded him, shoving him back and forth like a ragdoll.
"Hey, invisible boy, you think you can just walk by without saying hi?" Jack sneered, pushing Luke against the grass on the schoolyard. Luke tried to defend himself, but his attempts were futile. The bullies were too strong and too many.
Luke felt his legs giving out beneath him as he struggled to stay on his feet. The punches and kicks kept coming, and he could barely see through the haze of pain.
Finally, a particularly hard blow to the head made Luke see stars. He tried to stay conscious, but his body had taken too much. He crumpled to the ground, everything going black. The last thing he heard before losing consciousness was the mocking laughter of Jack and his gang.
A few minutes after the attackers left the schoolyard, Luke slowly regained consciousness, got up from the ground, brushed himself off, gathered his scattered belongings from the grass, and with an indifferent expression on his face, headed to the next class.
What else could he do?
***
This time, Aliya's house was filled with the incredible smell of fragrant pastries. As soon as Luke crossed the threshold of the living room, a pleasant sight immediately caught his eye. The table was laden with various treats – sweet cookies, fluffy croissants, delicious buns, and candies of almost every possible flavor. The sight took Luke's breath away. His parents rarely treated him to anything like this – they said too many sweets were bad for his health.
"What?" Aliya laughed brightly. "Forgot how to talk?"
"I'm... amazed, thank you." Luke struggled to say his thanks, stuttering halfway through. "Did you make all these pastries yourself? I haven't seen anything like this in the local stores."
"I can do many things, but cooking has never been my hobby."
"Then where did you buy them? And where would you get the money?"
"I don't have any money." The girl waved her hand carelessly. "And I never go to stores – that's a tedious and routine thing."
Although Luke was already used to all sorts of surprises, this situation just didn't make sense to him. Oh God, what else could he expect from his newfound quirky friend? She seemed like she had stepped out of the pages of a fairy tale book, where good always triumphs over evil, and there's always light at the end of the tunnel.
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"Do you mean the treats appeared here by themselves?" The boy didn't believe what he was saying.
"That's exactly what I mean." Aliya smiled mysteriously. "Help yourself!"
And Luke, along with his friend, enjoyed the pastries, gradually forgetting the recent school fight as if it were just another terrible nightmare.
***
The rest of the time, they talked about almost everything in the world. The boy couldn't remember the last time he had such a genuine conversation with someone, or if it had ever happened at all. Only one side of society was etched in his mind – its worst side, with all its vile flaws.
"There is no justice in life." Luke said suddenly.
"The fact that things are not in their right places now doesn't mean they will never be."
"I don't believe in that."
"It's not enough to just believe in justice – you have to fight for it."
She always spoke with such an intonation as if everything in this world could be obtained incredibly easily. Either she was that carefree, or just overly optimistic, since the girl had never even had the chance to encounter evil.
"Aliya, let's be honest, are you a ghost?"
"If you ask that to every girl you know, you'll never have a girlfriend," she joked.
"By the way, a lot of my classmates are already dating girls."
"Cool," it seemed she didn't get the hint.
"And I still don't have a girlfriend..."
"Don't worry, you'll definitely find one someday!" Aliya laughed encouragingly.
Luke sighed – his friend was too straightforward. She didn't pay attention to hidden meanings. Girls are difficult to understand sometimes...
