The Outsider

From something to nothing.

Home, it was different, I was different. I knew that much when I walked inside. My parents wanted to talk. They both told me to wait in the dining room. My brothers were kicked out of the house, so we could talk. My father was standing over me, like a dark grey cloud. You know at some point would start to storm, but my mother she took the opposite approach. She sat beside me and held my hand tightly. Squeezing it. None of them were smiling.

"Katherine, we heard you were hanging out with that child from down the block." My father hesitated here. "We want to make sure you know that he is. Different. Now Kat, I know at your age boys can see interesting and you want to be with ones that show you attention. But he may not be right for you." I notice my father swung his hands a lot when he talked. Like he was trying to get a fly.

"Sweetie? Your father is trying to tell you that he is an outsider." My mother squinted her eyes, her brows furrowed. "Our kind, we don't hang with them." She place an emphasis on them

I looked up, bothered. My parents always wanted me to be polite and make everyone feel equal, except in the case of the outsiders. They were different. Had to follow a different set of rules.

"But what if we are wrong. What if they are the same, and we are jut being stuck up and ru-"

"Katherine!" My fathers voice boomed. His hands slammed on the table, causing the vase full of flowers to tip. Water spilled on the table. He didn't seem to notice.

Drip, Drip, Drip.

"They are not the same, we are better than them. To talk to them like they belong with only encourage them, more of them will come. Spread like a disease they will."

I took a breath in. I stood up, my father was at least two feet taller than me. "No father, I am tired of being the kid who is told who she will be friends with, I am tired of fake Stacy being a bitch to me. Having to put up with that since kindergarten, having to be her friends was killing me. I am done. I want to be friends with Jesse. I am not going to let you stop me dad. I love you both but you both are wrong. We all are different, we all aren't perfect we all-"

"Stop!" My father gripped the wet table cloth. "Go to your room Katherine, think about what you have said. You have a lot of work to do tomorrow to fix everything you have done."

I took a step back from my father, and turned to the door He was angry, shaking his head. Both of them, I felt trapped. I needed to escape. I opened the door, tripping on the steps. My fall cutting up my palms and knees. I didn't notice, I continue to run. I don't even recall where I ran too.

By the time I had stopped, it was nearing the sunset. I sat on an old log, glancing upwards I watched the sun go down. It changing from blue to pink to yellow to black. I shuddered in the dark, figuring I would stay here for a while, my cuts stinging. Behind me leaves crunched as someone walked up the path, towards my spot. My heart almost stopped.

"Sorry to scare you, I saw you running. I was worried." It was Jesse, he took a seat beside me on the log. "Why are you crying?" My hands reached up to my face, it was wet. I brushed them away. He saw my hands in the dark. "You are hurt."

Finally I turned to him. "I fell."

"Katherine, it isn't easy, the path which you are choosing. Your own family will be against you. That is tough, even for someone as strong as you." He grabbed my hands and turned them in his hands.

I tried to make light of the situation. "Thanks Yoda, but really you have no idea."

"You are wrong I have a good idea, of how it is like to be different. To be the class freak, a scapegoat. It is horrible. But to bring you into it without you knowing what it is like, that wouldn't be fair. You can't just walked out, tired of life, of townie life." He got up and motioned for me to walk with him on the path. "I have been here since I was seven. I have no friends, people avoid me, and my father is considered the local lunatic. It hurts to know people won't know who I am as a person. All they care is that I wasn't born here."

I stopped walking, and sighed. My head hurt.

"Katherine, you may want to go home and bandage your cuts." I shook my head. No. Jesse walked beside me, "Katherine, if you want we can go to mine." I looked at him that would be the final step, into becoming the town loser for hanging with an outsider. I shook my head again. I couldn't. "Well we should at least clean those cuts." He gave me a questioning look. I sighed and stood up.

"As long as I don't have to go to mine. And Jess?" He turned his head. "You are wrong about them not knowing who you are. They don't care whether you are a townie or an outsider. It doesn't matter, it is all about who they want you to be, who they think you are." In that moment when he looked at me with his sad eyes, I knew he understood.

We walked down the path, it led to his house. His backyard, a single light illuminating the night.

His house was normal, the same layout of mine. We walked into the kitchen and he told me to sit down. He left me while he went to go and get the medical kit. Sitting there I looked around the kitchen from my spot. Normal, if I didn't know better I would say a townie had lived here. I noticed more art on the walls. I walked up to it, my chair making a noise as I slid it from my spot.

It was a mixture of colours, it seemed to move as I looked at it, the colours seemed to swirl around a woman with big blue eyes. Her dress white and flowing. I got distracted in it, like I was being sucked in. Someone walked in causing me to look in their direction. It wasn't Jesse, it was his father.

"Hey Jess, I heard you come in, did you find the girl..." he stop, seeing that it was me."Oh, I am sorry. You are Miss Smith, aren't you?"

"Yes." I walked up to the spot at the table. He also sat down. He stuck out his hand, expecting me to shake it.

"I..." I showed him my hands. He looked at my hand.

"Oh my, is Jesse wrapping those up for you?" He seemed concerned. It was weird talking to him; I wanted to talk to him. I felt like I could tell him anything.

"Yes, he went upstairs to grab the medical kit. Thank you." I smiled. He was warm and friendly unlike any of my friend's parents.

He motioned towards my hands, "May I?"

"Sure." I placed my hands on the table in front of him. He turned them around, barely focused on the cuts and scrapes. I know what he was looking at. The scar.

"Doesn't look to bad. Does it sting?" I nodded, I wasn't going to ask about the scar, though I wanted too. Jesse walked in holding some bandages and wipes.

"Sorry, it took a while, we don't really get cuts often. Oh, hi dad."

"It is okay son; I was just hoping Katherine didn't get too hurt. We should look out for her since her people are quite set in their mind that we are ruining there lives." There was something underlining his concern.

"Yes of course, Father." His father got up and offered Jesse his seat. He sat down and started to clean up my cuts. It stung.

We had finally finished, me knees and hands covered in slightly tan band aids. Jesse thought it was best if he walked me home. It was close to midnight. I thought my parents would be concerned. That they would be up. They would be waiting.

'Thanks Jesse, I am glad that you came and talked with me. I... I am scared."

"It is okay Kat, I will be there, you won't be alone." He promised as we parted ways.

I walked inside. It was pitch black. My parents weren't concerned. They were asleep in their beds, I heard my dad snoring upstairs the rise and fall like the heart beat of the house. I walked upstairs and went to bed. Lying there I couldn't help but look at the scar and wonder if I was becoming more and more like an outsider.