Dancing Between Reality and Reminiscence: Short Stories

The Invention of Laughter

Her face greeted the hard, blue linoleum, scarcely missing a piece of gum stuck there. Lauren squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see all her books and her artwork sprawled across the ground. It was funny how she cared more about pictures being thrown to the floor than her own face. But then again she was used to being tripped in the school halls. I really should have catlike reflexes by now. Yeah she wished.

"So sorry dear. It seems like my foot got in your way," pouted Sofia, her perpetrator. She probably was mad because she hadn't provoked Lauren into making her sound. That's always what they wanted.

Lauren had started to make her sound when she was a baby. Her parents thought nothing of it; they figured it was just an unusual baby sound. Then she got older and it became apparent that this was a permanent thing. She hadn't had much problems in grade school with it because it was a small school and all the kids thought it was cool. At most she'd get a weird look when it happened. Everything changed, though, freshman year when she started at a regional high school. It was only her second month in and she had already been picked out for the slaughter.

Lauren grinned in satisfaction at Sofia's disappointment. If she and her cronies were smart they would notice something. Lauren only made her sound when she was happy. You see, Lauren herself could not control the sound; it came when it wanted to, which made it that much more bizarre. What is the sound, you ask? Lauren found it hard to explain, but describes it as a burst of sound and air that doesn't form words.

Suddenly a rustle sounded, accompanied by a snort of derision. Heart fluttering in panic, Lauren scrambled upright, thinking Sofia was stealing her art. However her eyes met the surprising visage of a boy. He had scruffy brown hair and a line of stubble tracing his jaw. His glasses reflected light as he squatted down, gathering Lauren's things in a neat pile. Out of the corner of her eye Lauren could see Sofia, scrunching her nose in a way that made her look like a disgruntled old lady, and she was sure that's where the snort had come from.

"Got a new girlfriend Snail?" called Angie, Sofia's wingman, mockingly. He ignored her and rose with Lauren's things, revealing he was a rather short 5'6". Lauren followed his lead, taking her books with what she hoped was a grateful look. He gave her a grin, his brown eyes twinkling, and turned to look at the girls.

"Yep we're dating," he announced shortly, then grabbed Lauren by the arm and strolled away, a mischievous smile playing around his lips.

"W-what...w-we're not..." stuttered Lauren, confused, but weirdly excited at the same time.

"Just look at their faces," he murmured back, eyes shining. She took a peek behind them and saw the girls staring, dumbfounded. The best, though, was Sofia, who looked like she had sat in something nasty. She grinned at her saviour and he returned it. They looked really funny, and suddenly Lauren felt something rising in her throat.

Sometimes she could keep it down, her sound, but she could feel it rising quickly and knew with a twist of her stomach that it wasn't stopping. Looking around frantically she looked for somewhere to hide. Sofia and company were still in earshot and she didn't want to give them the satisfaction of hearing it.

Spotting a janitor's closet, Lauren zipped inside, slamming the door shut as she burst. It came long and loud, vibrating in her stomach and reverberating all the way down to her toes. She leaned against the door as he eyes began to water from mirth. Finally her sound died away and she flicked tears from her eyes, gasping in recovery. Then she noticed that a certain boy was in her closet. Oops. She must have pulled him in with her when she panicked and dove for shelter. Now he was looking at her seriously, but nothing could get the mischievous expression out of his eyes.