The boy looked at himself in the mirror in his room, his blue eyes looked tired, his ginger hair was ruffled as the gash on his right cheek bled. He took off the soiled t-shirt he wore to school that day and replaced it with a hoodie, his jeans hung loose as they always did. He grabbed his guitar, the one his father bought for him on his fifteenth birthday and pulled out his notebook where he kept his unfinished songs. He flipped to the most recent page, titled These Dreams and started to sing. With each verse, his day at school was soon forgotten, along with the pain the bullies would inflict upon him day after day. As the song came to an end, he flipped to another page and wrote down lyrics, it didn't matter if they rhymed or not, they were in his heart, they were meant to be a song. He finished as his mother called him for dinner,
" Ed! Dinner's ready!" Ed swore under his breath, how was he going to explain the gash on his cheek? He quickly washed the dried blood away, leaving a scar in place. Ed walked into the dining room keeping his head down. His father was still at work, where he was an art lecturer. His mother placed a plate of mashed potatoes and a few greens in front of him and proceeded to call his older brother to the table.
"Matthew! Dinner's getting cold," she turned her attention to Ed and she gasped as he cringed.
" Ed! What happened to your cheek?" She rushed over and brushed her fingers over the scratch.
" Mom, it's just a small scratch I got while playing b-ball," he mumbled and brushed her hand off.
She raised her eyebrows but didn't say anything more. Matthew walked in and grabbed his plate. He shoveled the food into his mouth, swallowed and asked,
" Wanna play b-ball Ed?"
" Nah, I'm just gonna go to my room."
He finished up the last of his potatoes, dropped the plate into the sink and left the room while his brother looked at their mom as if to ask what was wrong with him.
Ed sat on his bed and too tired to do anything more, soon drifted off into a dreamless sleep. The next morning he woke up feeling the familiar dread that crept up on him every time the prospect of going to school was near. He washed his face, grabbed his guitar and snuck out the back door so his parents wouldn't question him. He walked through the early morning mist. Everyone was waking up in Framlingham and he wanted to reach the park before anyone could see him. His ginger hair did little to conceal him and he didn't need his parents finding out that he had skipped school for the third time that month. He chose a big oak tree far from the asphalt path that wove through the park and settled down. He stroked the guitar sings to warm up and began to sing These Dreams again. His eyes closed as the words poured out of him and rays of sunshine warmed his face through the shade of the tree's leaves. He played the song over and over until a soft voice interrupted him.
" What a beautiful song, did you write that yourself?"
He looked up and saw that the voice belonged to a girl who seemed about his age. Her big brown eyes shone through tendrils of soft, blond curls.
" Uh yeah. Thanks." He stared at the ground, wanting to continue singing but the girl sat down next to him.
" Skipping school? " She asked.
Ed looked at her not understanding why a pretty girl like her was questioning him like this. He didn't answer.
" Yeah me too." The girl leaned back against the tree and closed her eyes. Ed didn't know what got into him, but he found himself asking the girl a question.
" Why are you skipping?"
The girls eyes remained closed but she answered,
" I hate school. It doesn't make sense to me. I don't fit in. The list goes on. What's your reason?"
Ed stared at his guitar, he knew what the girl meant.
" Same."
The girl opened her eyes and looked at him.
" Mind singing that song again?"
Ed was quiet for a moment but started to strum the first few chords. His voice picked up and he began to sing the familiar words.
" I keep my hopes and dreams inside of you amongst the other things my mother seems to never see the bruises that I'm covering..."
He sang until the end, forgetting that he had company until he opened his eyes to see that the girl was gone.
