Reptile

I Am Silenced

After summer flew by, and autumn brought the beautiful golds and reds of the trees, school was days from starting again. I would be in my senior year, it was my last year of being socially and physiclally trapped in such a child like atmosphere. I hated the idea of going to school. What if people asked my name, asked questions, maybe even the teachers. What if they didn't understand? 

The night before school I didn't sleep at all. I paced and drew pictures and paced some more. At around 5 a.m. I got dressed, putting on a floor length casual dress, of all white and old vintage lace. It was simple, with thin straps and a modest cut, lightly hugging my body until about mid-waist. The bronzed tone of my skin made the dress appear stark and bleached, not quite as off-white as it truly was. 

Driving to school nearly gave me hives. My mother had sent me with a note, and told me to report to the front office of the school. As I pulled up I was shocked to see that it was built like an old western fortress, a massive structure with many halls and wings. A large carved tree round in the main atrium gave simple arrow-marked directions towards various hubs and offices. I assumed the one that read "Guidance" was the proper place to be going to. 

The secretary greeted me excitedly, asking many questions and receiving no answers. I pushed my mouth to one side, making an almost sad face, to which she paused. I handed her the note that my mother had written and she slowly covered her mouth in shock as she read it. "You can't speak? You're mute?" I nodded softly and hid my face, noticing how she gawked at my scars. "Well my name is Mrs. Maycen. I will help you with your guidance counselor and send an email to your teachers. Do you sign at all?" I signed 'yes' to her. She smiled and beckoned me with her to the counselor's office. I stepped out of the office with three new things; a map, a schedule, and an identity as a Mountain View High Rattler.

I had let my hair stay natural, wild, and curly. It made my dress look more 'official' in the vintage department. I never put my hair up in public anyways. It was my only defence against the stares and open mouths since makeup couldn't even begin to cover my scars. My first class was American Sign Language. Since I couldn't speak, they said it would be no use taking a foreign language. I honestly looked forward to having 'two english' classes. 

Lunch came at an early 11:30, whereupon I found myself lost in a sea of twelve hundred kids, all scrapping their way towards a lunch line. I moved quietly about the outskirts of the room, until I saw a wall of doors leading out to a huge enclosed deck. I made my way to a table meant only for two or three and pulled my lunch out from my backpack. As I was inspecting my food, movement on the other side of the glass caught my eye. Although I hadn't realized it, the school was actually on a mountain, and the entire back side of the school had a perfect view of the valley and hillsides below. In my awe I completly missed the sound of someone sitting in front of me. I turned back to my food and nearly fell from my chair. A girl with long blonde hair and stark grey-blue eyes was looking right at me. "Hi! Im Luna!" I smiled and started to sign, but quickly stopped when her expression faded into confusion. "You're deaf?" She murmered softly. I quickly pulled out my iPad and opened up my notes, typing: "No I just can't speak. My name is McIntosh." She started laughing, "Like the software?" My face fell and I shook my head and began to type once more, "No, that would be spelled Macintosh... Mine is just McIntosh. Mcintosh Wehlls." 

We began to talk, and found that we actually had all but two classes out of seven together. Luna and I were looking at pictures on Instagram when I heard a group of people begin to laugh at my side. I blanched and let my hair fall quickly to the side of my face. Luna looked up, "They're just laughing at a joke, don't worry." I assumed Luna had figured out my fear of being seen. She was already such a good person and good friend and I had only spent lunch with her. As I watched the group laughing and carrying on, my eyes stuck on a single face. 

That one face was like a magnet, like Medusa, I could not bear to stop staring. A tanned face with sandy brown hair and bleached smile, and eyes that scrunched into quarter moons when he laughed. He looked to be about my age, maybe six feet tall and average weight. At one point he caught me staring and I froze. His eyes, the one thing that I couldn't see, were boring right through me. His smile faded for a split second, and suddenly I could see them, a pair of pure shining gold eyes. They looked like they were little jars of gold leaf pieces, sparkling in the sun. The corner of his mouth turned up and he closed an eye. I turned a deep red and quickly hid my face. 

"Oh my god, that's Elliott Brighton. He just smiled at you." I made a face at Luna, as if to call her Captain Obvious. I shook my head, no boy would ever find anything in my face, or what was left of my personality. Maybe he just saw my face from afar, not noticing the deep scars across my whole identity. I cleaned up what was left of my lunch and tucked it back into the side of my Warrior Lacrosse backpack. Luna perked up and said warmly "You know, there's a big football game on Friday, would you want to come with me? It's against the Ridgewood Wolves, our sports rival. My brother Sterling plays so I always have to go, he's the guy with the last name Alconne on his jersey. He's a big idiot, so just ignore him." So her name was Luna Alconne, with a brother named Sterling Alconne. Sterling is apparently a jer- and Elliott is staring me down again, damn it! I turned to him and made an exasperated face and threw up my hands in an irritated gesture. He smirked in a pleasant and playful way and shook his head. I swear men are on a completely different level of blithering idiocy. 

At last the bell rang calling us to advanced placement environmental science. I diligently replaced my phone in my purse and decided to leave my headphones out to "talk" to Luna. As I stood I knocked a tiny slip of a girl onto the acid stained concrete. She looked at me and began to weave a tapestry of obscenities. I was taken aback at how rude this microscopic excuse for a woman could be. A few jock-like guys came to her rescue, and began to shout at me. I was getting concerned about how to handle this. I had never meant to just truck her over by simply standing, but obviously my athletic build had again gotten me more attention. I grimaced as one of them got into my face, spraying his ignorance and confirming my theory that most jocks were simply meat-heads. 

Luna finally was fed up with the one in my face and she smacked him hard. "Sterling! You blithering bastard! Lay off for the sake of Bauke!" He stood to his full height, probably 6'6" or 6'7" and growled. "Luna she decked Alice, you know I can't stand her being harmed. And you know better than to drop that name in a place like this." I was only paying attention to their side arguement, forgetting the yippy little chihuahua by her posse of men. I blanched as she suddenly came at me, acrylics, bronzer and all. I dodged her first charge easily, almost sending her into the glass of the Overlook. She turned and cried like a banshee, coming at me again. Once more I dodged, and smiled softly as she reared back, fuming, and came at me one more. This time I was pinned between Sterling and another jock, and had nowhere to go. Honestly I could've stuck my hand out gently and sent her flying, but I tried to avoid being aggressive. I flinched, expecting to have my face clawed or mascara thrown on me, but I felt a warm presence form in front of me... Him.