Project

1.1: the first friend.

"I'm sure that you've at least seen one scenario where there is someone whom you know is crying, screaming for help, but refuses to allow others to help them. If you haven't, well... You're lucky. They were like that, at least when I met them. They were a mystery, and you could tell that something was wrong, that something had happened to them, something that changed the way they looked and viewed the world." Spencer started to let his eyes space out, thinking back to the beginning. He then continued.

"We met near the very beginning of Secondary. They were the quiet, shy and observant child of the school. Always looking for truth, always knowing what was happening, yet being unable to say a word, literally. The first time we met –at an after-school club– they didn't say a word. Instead, they wrote down on a white board 'Hi! No need to ask for my name, just call me Project.' At first, I was confused and had a lot of questions running through my head, yet not knowing how to ask them in a polite way: 'Why are you writing things down?' 'Are you a mute?' 'Why should I call you Project?' I decided to ask the last one first, and then work my way up, being sure to at least know the basics of their weirdness. When I asked, they simply held up their hand, as if to ask for me to wait, and wrote something else down on the board. It read 'because to many people, including myself, I'm a kind of Project.' They could tell from my look that this didn't answer much, and instead made me more concerned about who they were. They then rubbed off what they wrote, and then wrote 'Just don't worry about it ;)'. So I proceeded to ask the other 2 questions, and what I found out was that they were not a mute, and could speak perfectly fine, but they had learnt that saying things can have a greater impact and cause more harm than just writing them. I think the way he put it was that, when you write something down, it can be erased or torn, making it harder to remember what it said. Whereas when you say something, people would be able to remember it easily, be able to remember the exact way you said, even if they didn't want to.

"This was, overall, confusing. I had just met someone new, and already they were a complete mystery. But I didn't want to ask anything else! I mean, what would you do in a scenario like that? Where someone has just given you the weirdest, most obvious fake name, and tells you to 'not worry about it'?" The gentlemen both shrugged, as, though they wouldn't have done it when they were younger, they would have definitely asked more now. Spencer, after realising this, carried on with his side of the story.

But not before adding, "Granted, though, I do wish I asked then instead of later. Maybe I could've stopped them from doing this now, or at least postponed it.

"Anyway, after a while, they started to get acquainted with more people, each of them wondering who they were, but not asking about it. They even introduced me to a couple of their friends, only writing to me 'I know you've had a tough life at school, I can tell. So I want you to have a fresh start!' The first friend I met of theirs was Georgia, and honestly I thought that they were together. Though she DID talk, she was a lot like them: Kind, helpful, a comedian of some sorts, it seemed like the perfect match. Yet Project assured me that they weren't together... By kneeing me in the groin." As Spencer said that, he winced as he remembered the pain that he had, Project really did pack a punch. Yet that was the only time that Project would resort to violence towards Spencer, towards anyone for that matter; they hated the thought of violence, and thus refused to hurt others through actions.

Spencer then regained his composure, "After that, we became part of a group. As all of us were basically outsiders, Project thought that we would probably be known as 'the oddballs' of the school. And boy were they correct.

"I believe the first person they met after Georgia was Will. He was a two-way person; he would be kind, helpful and comedic one minute, and the next he could be an angered, self-centred and distraught chap. Yet Project still liked him, in fact I believe that they promised Will that they would never stop being friends, and at first hung out with him the most. Project wanted to help others, and so they became friends with almost everyone, even if their other friends hated someone. So when they met Will, they saw straight through him, and could tell that, though his past was confusing, his mind was broken. He acted okay, and loved to joke around, but they could tell that he was still slightly damaged –especially when he switched attitudes.