Abstract

Chapter 6

I had a memorable sonder once,  about a girl who's golden hair fell carelessly around her beautiful face. But even her sun - kissed hair couldn't hide the fact that she was crying, silently. Silent crying was the worst kind. It aroused the idea that someone could be so low-spirited that they'd cry, wordlessly, their voices submitting to the grief. My mother's used to cry like that. She'd slumped in the corner of her room and rock back and forth, tears streaming down her cheeks, some getting caught in the wrinkles that didn't come with age, but with constant emotional strain.

The girl with the golden hair sat in her chair, in the same fetal position my mother had always assumed, and cried quietly, careful not to draw attention to herself at the back of the classroom. But I noticed her, which was strange, because I never paid attention to anyone as close as I paid attention to her. I didn't even know her name.

And as she cried, obscured from prying eyes by the back of the tall boy who sat in front of her, I tried to visualise what I thought her life was like. In my imagination she had two, loving parents. A sibling, maybe two. A boy who came in and swept her off her feet just to drop her to fall flat on the ground. Which brought me back to the present of why she was crying.

I didn't have time to further ponder on my fascination with the girl before the bell rang, signaling that time in Biology class was up. I got up and made my way to the door, but not before handing the girl who changed my perspectives on things I never thought about until then, a tissue.

I hadn't heard from Adam since the park incident. That was four  days ago. He wasn't at school, either. I noticed his absence, but regardless of whether I missed him or not, I needed to fall back into my nothingness routine. He gave me hope I didn't have.

He showed up the next week for school. But he wasn't Adam, just a sad imitation of Adam. He rarely spoke to me, and when he did, it was usually short, one-word answers, that dimmed any chance  of a real conversation.

So I did what any person who could take a hint would do: I left him alone. Whatever he was dealing with was none of my business. We hadn't been friends long enough for me to start getting nosy.

Adam chalked up the courage to talk to me one week after our hiatus. I was sitting on the patio in front of my house."I'm sorry." He said, I almost forgot how his voice sounded.

"Why did you always apologise for things that don't need apologies?" I said, simultaneously moving over to make room for him to sit down.

He smiled, one that lacked any sincerity. His fiery hair was rumpled and his eyes showed no traces of light even though the sun was shining brightly against the backdrop of Seattle. 

"I'm sorry," He said again. "I'm sorry that I've dragged you into my world."

"Adam, I don't know what to say unless you tell me why your sorry."

He looked at me. It was at that moment that I realised that something had changed between us. I wasn't sure what, though.

"Come with me." He said with a cock of his head. "We aren't going far." He added, when he saw my reluctance to go with him.

We walked for about two minutes before reaching a gated house where two children, a little girl and little boy, were playing.
They were laughing and running around.

I felt his pitch in his scream before I heard it. The little boy covered his ears with his hands and just screamed his lungs out. I turned to Adam. He was staring intently at the boy, as if the screaming was normal. Adam closed his eyes, and when he opened them, the boy stopped screaming, while the girl stood next to him, scared.