Strange Short Stories

4. Ayla and Thomas/ Uglier on the Inside

Okay, just so you guys know, I'm not trying to be mean to people who aren't as good-looking as others, I mean for this to be about how some people have ugly souls, but are pretty on the outside, and you can't really tell that they're bad people until it's too late and everything. And vice versa.

So, if everyone looked like what their heart did, some people might be very ugly, and others might be very beautiful. But that doesn't mean ugly people are bad people, looks have nothing to do with how amazing your soul may or may not be.

Seventy years ago, in the year 2028, a virus was released. But it was not the sort of virus that you would expect. It revealed how your spirit looked, how you were inside. Some people began to be uglier over time, some prettier, or even beautiful. Beautiful people always ended up with beautiful people, because nobody wanted to be with someone who had a cold heart.

So that's just how it began.

And beautiful people had children with other beautiful people, producing beautiful kids. But, one day, a beautiful little girl named Ayla was taken with her parents to the public playground.

She was only about eight at the time, and she'd been told to only be friends with the nice-looking kids.

But she had always been fascinated by one boy that was always there, every time she went to the park. She'd never talked to him, because he wasn't very nice-looking. She didn't have anything against ugly people, but her parents did. Not grudgingly, of course, they just wanted what was best for their daughter.

But, one day, when her parents weren't watching, she walked up to the boy. He noticed her and hid half-behind some of the playing equipment and watched as she continued to approach him.

"Hello," she said sweetly. The boy just looked at her, not returning her greeting. But she persisted. "My name is Ayla. What's yours?"

He looked at his feet shyly and kept flickering his eyes up to her encouraging gaze as he spoke. "Thomas," he whispered.

Ayla beamed back at him, happy that he was cooperating. "Do you want to play?," she said hopefully.

No one had ever asked Thomas to play before, and he was exhilarated that someone had asked him. He nodded his head quickly and grinned a little.

"Okay.....," she trailed off, looking at the floor. Then she quickly tapped his shoulder. "Tip! You're it!," she yelled and then started running away, giggling.

Thomas stood there, a confused smile on his face. He had no idea what to do now. Then his grin vanished. She must not want to play with me anymore......., he thought sadly.

Ayla soon realised that he wasn't chasing after her as the game implied. She walked back to him and grabbed his wrist.

With his hand, she tapped her own shoulder. "Look, like this. And then you run away and I chase you. When I tip you, then I have to run away, and you chase me. Okay?," she explained.

"Okay," the boy reiterated quietly. And so, they played several games of their fun little game, until Ayla's parents noticed. But they soon decided that the boy really wasn't very bad-looking.

And so, when her parents said that they had to leave the park, Ayla made them promise to bring her back tomorrow. And she promised to meet the boy again so they could play tips again and so she could teach him more games.

She continued to do this every day, meet him there and play with him. Every day, except for Sunday's when she was at church, because the usually met earlier on weekends.

Three years later, Thomas was so beautiful, even girls were jealous of him. And Ayla would always love him, no matter what happened.

But, nothing ever did. And so, eventually, friendship turned into something else. And then that something else turned into love. And, later, Thomas proposed to Ayla. And the got married. And even got buried next to one another when they died. And that just proves, how much a simple friendship can count for.

AND THEY DIED HAPPILY EVER AFTER. THE END