Different

The First Day

  I awoke to the sound of my dad in the other room sighing and riffling through papers. I slowly sat up from my small couch and rubbed my eyes, still dazed from my sleep. I swung my feet to the cold ground and walked to my trunk, trying to find something to wear for the day. Quickly I just threw on my dusty pink slippers and fixed my black long sleeved shirt and tied the string on my grey sweatpants, then fixing my medium length brown hair, opening the door and walked into my dad's office. "Oh! Good morning sweetheart I didn't know you were awake already." he said, quickly hiding the papers he was stressing over, hoping I wouldn't notice. "Morning dad, yeah I just woke actually." I said, grabbing a chair and sitting down next to him, pretending for his sake that I was oblivious about the stress he was under. Just in that moment, Ms. Crawley came in, smiling without a care in the world. "Good morning all!" She said, handing my dad some mail and going over to her desk. "I'm going to go grab the mail real quick!" She yelled over her should before I stopped her. "Ms. Crawley you already got the mail." I said, guiding her back to her desk and helping her sit down. "Ohh yes I guess I must have, Thank you dear!" She said, patting me on the shoulder as my dad and I laughed. I knew what all those envelopes were, and it wasn't good. All most all of them were bills or eviction notices. I shook my head as my dad read through them and looked around the room, a somber look in his eyes. But that changed in a instant as he got a sparkle in his eye. I knew that look as well, it meant he had an idea and more than likely it wouldn't work out as he wanted. He grabbed the phone and quickly shut the door, blocking me and Ms. Crawley from listening in. I rolled my eyes and walked towards the stairs and to my favorite place. I walked to the stage and smiled to myself, just imagining this whole place lit up as it was in the stories my dad told me. My dad and I have been living in this theater for as long as I could remember, even though it wasn't your typical home, I still loved it. I turned on what lights worked and stepped onto the stage, twirling around and dancing a little. I've always wanted to sing and dance and feel what it was like for people to adore my music and dancing. That was when I heard clapping and turned to see my dad, smiling widely and I took a bow and laughed. "Bravo, Bravo! Amazing!" He said, walking up onto the stage, laughing. "Thanks dad." I said quietly, shaking my head and looking sadly out into the empty velvet seats, mocking me. "What's wrong sweetheart?" My dad asked, standing next to me. "I just wish I could go out and see... everything! I want to dance and sing and meet creatures and just be... normal." I said throwing my arms to the doors across the room, the sun shining onto the streets and the distant laughter filled my ears. From the corner of my eye, I saw my dad shaking his head. "You know that can't happen honey. They wouldn't understand, I just don't want you to get hurt." He said, patting my hand. I shook my head and sighed. He was right, no one would understand... what I was. I wasn't like them, I didn't look like any of them. I didn't even like at my dad! The doctors say I'm not like any of them, that I'm 'human', while everyone else in the world is animal.