I am Special

Prologue

I was fed up. Fed up with everything and everyone! They didn't see things the way I did. All they did was laugh at me. 'She's gone insane!' my brother would laugh. 'They girl's hallucinating!' my father would scorn. 'We need to find her a doctor!' my mother would say. I was sick of it! No one took me seriously. They thought that the things I saw were just my 6 year old imagination. But they were there! Right in front of me! These wispy, ribbon like, transparent things. Something told me they were spirits of some sort.

Had read about spirits in a book, except when I finished reading it mum said they didn't exist. What did she know? She was too old to know anything. Everything in her old brain would get jumbled up and it would fall out.

I knew I was different though. They just didn't see it. They didn't see the things I saw.

I was fed up of them ridiculing me and calling me 'too intelligent for my own good', 'looney', 'know it all', 'a nutter', 'smart ass' (which I didn't really get because the last time I checked I wasn't a donkey) or even 'mad'!

I was going to run away from home. I was sick of it all. I knew my own intelligence. I knew it could keep me safe, no matter what is out there. There was one area I was not as good with though... geography. I didn't get where any countries were, or how far away 10 kilometers was. But besides that I could do anything!

I may have only been 6 but I believed I could do it! Mum didn't think so. She said that I wouldn't go past the main road and I'd be back home before lunch time. She always had thought I was a nut case and I was a useless know it all. She never believed in me. I doubt she even cared.

I was planning to go to Russia. Mr. Humphrey my plushie Hippo has friends in Russia. I didn't know how far away Russia was nor where it was but that was where I was going. I read somewhere that Australia was right near Russia. Or maybe it said 'Australia is near rushing' for something. I don't know, but what did it matter.

I got out my overnight bag. It was a small duffel bag with dark royal blue handles, a midnight blue fabric and gold zips. On the fabric of the bag were little golden stars and text that wrote 'one day'. Grandma had bought me this bag. She was she only one who understood that i was special. She bought me this bag because 'it was a little grown up bag for her little grown up girl'. That was before she died.

Now what did I need? All my money, $13.35 to be exact, plus $100 I took from my mother's Purse, A toothbrush, a jacket and blanket (I heard it was cold in Russia), a packet of biscuits (that I had stolen from the pantry earlier) and Mr. Humphrey of course! I put everything in my duffel bag, and off I went. Running. Never, ever looking back.

I ran. I ran across the main road and as far away from the house as I could. Up the street next to the shopping centre, right at the movie cinema, and from there straight on. I just kept on running till I made it to the train station.

I bought a ticket for the first train to Adelaide. Why? I don't know. It was really the only ticket I could afford that got me as far away from my home town, broken hill as possible.

On the train I counted up my money. $44.35 I didn't have much left. I had nothing else to do so I slept. My eyes slowly closed as the slow, rocking of the train lulled me to sleep.

Figures flashed before my eyes. One figure, a tall thin lady, with her hair pulled back into a low bun came into focus. She wore a long, navy blue dress printed with floral patterns, that fell just above her ankles. She spoke but I didn't hear words come out of her mouth. She reached her hand out to me. The 'me' in my dream took it. I stood up. All around me people were rushing along the footpath in their own worlds. The lady started walking. I followed her and she took my hand in hers, guiding me along the streets. Then, all of a sudden, I was transported. I was in the streets one moment and In a field that stretched out in front of a large medieval castle the next. The lady walked across the grass, calmly, as if we hadn't just been teleported. I stopped. I didn't follow her. She looked back at me holding her hand out.

I woke with a start. It took me a few minutes to realise where I was. The familiar rocking of the train brought back my memory. I checked the time 4:30am. It was roughly half and hour until the estimated arrival time. I remembered the dream. Pondering what it meant I looked into my bag for a biscuit. I was really hungry. The last meal I had was breakfast, 9 hours ago. I knew I couldn't eat the all now. I had to save them.

I saw an older girl a few rows in front of me, calling someone on her phone. She was speaking really loud, so it was hard not to overhear the conversation.

"No Mum! I'm not going back! I want to stay with you!" She was almost yelling into her phone, I could hear her choking back tears.

I got up and stood in the isle next to her seat, facing her. She hung up and put her phone down. She was trying not to cry.

"Are you ok?" I asked, wanting to know what was the matter.

"No! Go away you little brat, it's none of your business! Where are you parents?"

"Not here." I replied, being what my mum would call 'a smart ass' (as in the donkey of course).

"Where are they then?" she interogated.

"If you must know I'm running away. My mother hated me, so I left." I confessed, although staying strong.

"Right I expect you were to annoying for her she probably kicked you out." she snarled.

I don't know what happened to me. At one point I was myself, the next I was..... Not.

I could see the horror and fear in her face. I felt different. I looked into the train window to see what the matter was. Immediately I knew. I had grown fangs, my eyes gleamed red and my face snarled. I had no control. I growled at her. She screamed, and continued to scream until I pounced at her, no control over my limbs or my mind. But before I reached her, I felt her foot plunge into my face. I was thrown backwards, into the seats across the aisle.

I felt everything come back to normal. I got up and went straight back to my seat, without a word.

What was wrong with me? What was I?

I contemplated this all the way to the station.

When we got up I rushed out before the tears in my eyes did. I was so confused. Confused and lost.

I ran up to the station platform wall. Slid down in and cried.

After several minutes, I heard a noise in front of me. I looked up. And there she was. The lady from the dream. She reached her hand out and said "follow me". I took it and went. What was happening? I had dreamed about this. She took me along streets and pathways and then. And then. We were gone. I landed on the grassy field in front of the castle in a daze. The lady kept on walking but I didn't follow, just like my dream. She held her hand out to me once more. I took it. I had a feeling that I wouldn't ever be going back home.