Turquoise Teddy

The Corridor

Salty tears trickled down my exposed knees and soaked their way into the ripped denim of my jeans. I was getting pain in my spine from the hunched position I sat in, with my feet tucked up in front of my bum and my arms hugging my knees tight. The stone windowsill was slowly numbing me through, and my neck was stiff from me hanging my head. I knew I should probably go, but I couldn't force myself up. This was partially physical, after five hours of curling up on old stone with no food, drink or movement, but it was also largely mental. I couldn't leave my parents. I'd been whispering to them for the whole time I was there, talking and talking about how I missed them and how I never even tried a hair colour other than blue. I told them about the memorial, how Nan had been crying in the night again even though she promises me she stopped crying years ago. I even spoke about the bullies.

It wasn't the first time I had said something to them about my issues, but it was still a big deal. I don't blame Joe Hartley for picking on me, I mean I constantly mourn the death of my parents, despite never knowing them. I'm depressed too, partly because of what happened sixteen years ago and yet a lot of bullying contributed to it - and this makes the bullying worse. People even manage to have a go at me because I don't use my metamorphagus powers to try new stuff, and the adults say they're jealous, but really they just want to upgrade their status by degrading the sensitive boy with blue hair. It's a cruel cycle and I can't escape.

Much like I can't escape this corridor. My parents are here and I feel them in my heart. My brain is screaming at me that if I don't get up soon then I'll slip deeper into one of my standby periods. I call them this because I literally go into standby, sometimes switching off for weeks on end. Nan worries about me more than usual when this happens, and honestly I don't think she can take another at the moment. I yearn to stay here, to remain at peace in the depths of the ancient wizarding school in the presence of my lost parents and my own thoughts. But I mustn't.

After about another hour of deliberating on my frozen perch, I extend my legs and feel pains shoot through every inch of my body. I stretch out for a good four minutes and then I know I have to go. I have to get out before the house elves come along to start preparations for the school day tomorrow.

My shaking legs carry my down the corridor, around the corner I think I see my parents and out into a main route. Soon I'm outside, and I illegally disapparate back to the fields behind Nan's house. I don't care about the law, I'm the poor little boy with no mummy, daddy or sanity left.