November Writing Challenge

Day 9 Find a quote and write a one shot about it

“I wonder how many people I have looked at all my life and never really seen.” 

― John Steinbeck, East of Eden

The cafeteria was crowded, but his eyes had no trouble finding her. As usual. 

For reasons unknown to him, he was drawn to her, like a magnet. Ever since he had almost bumped into her last week.

She always sat by herself, he wasn’t even sure she had any friends, but she didn’t seem to mind. There was a tranquility about her that he hadn’t seen on anyone else.

At the moment, her nose was buried in some book. He couldn’t read the title, but he wondered what sort of story would hold her attention so deeply that it made her blind to the world around her. It made him want to know more about her.

He jumped when his friend Jim elbowed him in the ribs. “What’s with you man? What are you staring at?” Jim followed his gaze and grinned. “You like geeks now, Dare?” He flung an arm over his friend’s shoulder. “If you want to hook up with someone, I can introduce you to some girls. Just say the word.” 

Darren shrugged his friend off. “No thanks, I’ve seen the girls you’re referring to.”

Jim merely grinned, not at all offended at his friend’s tone. “At least they’d be wiling. You’ve got no chance with that one, I tell you.” 

“You know her then?” Darren raised his eyebrow.

“She’s in my history class. A little know-it-all. No friends. Boring.” Jim dragged his friend to their usual table. “Forget about that one.”

Darren shook his head and sat down, but couldn’t help it that his eyes moved towards the mysterious girl every once in a while. If she was in Jim’s history class, she must have been there all year. There were no transfer students at the moment. So how had he not seen her before?

“Yo, Dare,” Jim waved his hand in front of Darren’s face and he snapped to attention. 

“Hm?” 

“I asked what we’re going to plan for the weekend.” 

“I have a paper due on Monday,” Darren sighed, “I won’t be going anywhere this weekend. Sorry.”

“You’re taking things too seriously,” one of the other guys commented, “just hand it in later. Tell the teacher your dog ate it or something,”

“Yeah sure,” Darren said in a dry tone, “very original.” He shook his head. “I can’t afford to slack, Mike. I actually want to make something of my life.”

“Darren is going to some prestigious university, aren’t you Dare?” Jim grinned. 

“It’s not that big of a deal you know,” Darren muttered. His eyes involuntarily moved back to where the girl had been sitting.

But she was gone.

He searched for her the next day, but she was nowhere to be found. Was she sick? Had she skipped school? She didn’t seem like the kind of person that would do that, but what did he really know about her?

When after a week there still had been no sign, he decided to ask his friend. Jim merely shook his head. “I don’t know. Why are you so interested in her anyway? You seem almost obsessed.”

“I was just wondering, that’s all,” he feigned indifference, “what’s her name anyway?”

Jim eyed him oddly. “I don’t know. Megan, Miriam something.”

“I thought she was in your class? How can you not know her name?”

Jim shrugged. “Like I said, she’s boring. What’s with you? Do you know everyone in all of your classes?”

“I suppose not,” Darren admitted.

Pretty soon he forgot about her.

Three days later he found out her name. It was written under a black framed picture in the school library, a candle in front of it.

Mallory Valois

No one had known. She had kept her secrets well. Had she suffered? Had she been in pain? Could she have used a friend?

Perhaps he should have tried to talk to her that day, learn some things about her. But he hadn’t cared enough.

A face in a crowd.

A moment of curiosity.

A second to connect.

He had always wondered what it was about her that made her so at peace. But perhaps she had known. Perhaps it had been inevitable.

But he would never know.

Maybe it was all that mattered, that at some point someone cared.

Even if it was too late.

A/N Okay so not my best work, but I'm not completely disappointed with this one. A better version of this short story is on my profile page. It's called Railway Rats. It would be nice if you could check it out. It's a different story than this one, but with the same concept: that we don't always really see the people around us.