Outsider - On Hold

Outsider [Prologue]

Prologue

As I lay on the peer with my t-shirt hitched up above my belly button to make sure most of my stomach caught the sun's rays, I dabbled my feet in the cold sparkling blue water just below. The iciness sent shocks up my body, but they didn't hurt, they just cooled my body down and stopped me from overheating under this blistering summer's sun. I lay with my eyes closed so the sun didn't blind me, but when I did open my eyes, I twisted my head towards the sandy beach just to check he was still there. Someone had been watching me for a long time now. Day after day I would come to relax on this perfect beach until the sun sets and day after day he sits on the edge of the spongy sand and watches me carefully. It's not like I'm of any importance here, or of any interest, but still he sits and watches. I sat up and let my t-shirt flop down over my stomach while turning to meet his eyes. It wasn't awkward because he didn't look away, but it felt as if I shouldn't be looking, even though he was looking at me. Eventually he did look away and found a new interest in the colourful birds passing in masses. They squeaked as they passed and made a beautiful tune that could almost be hummable.

 I lifted my feet out of the water and they almost instantly dried under the suns powerful presence, but I still gave them a once over with my towel. As I sauntered down the peer, my feet burning from the baked wood, I glanced over at him again. There was something strange about him, and it was nothing to do with the fact he kept staring at me. Something was bugging me, and I wasn't going to let shyness get in the way of me finding out what. I didn't run in the sand, firstly because my feet would be sucked into the soft texture due to the pressure that would be exerted, causing me to sink, and secondly because I would look silly. Instead I calmly breezed across its surface, keeping my eyes softly on his.

"Hey" I called out, but I didn't need to grab his attention because I had already had it "How come you keep looking at me?" I kept my voice calm, knowing that this wasn't the place, or the time, to get angry. These were my relaxed hours.

"Something's hurt you deeply" he said suddenly "I can see it in your eyes". His olive skin glowed in the suns light and his blue eyes glimmered as he looked at me intensely.

"What do you mean?" I said, wrapping my towel round me.

"I'm not sure exactly, just that you don't belong here. And something has happened to you where you do belong. Is that why you escape here?"

"You're right, I don't belong here. And many things have happened to me where I do belong"

"Something significant?" he said and I screwed my face up in confusion. I hated where I lived, and in some ways I think that's why I chose to escape here. I chose to ignore his recent question.

"I don't have a choice to come here, it's just where my mind takes me" I said. The boy smiled making his eyes gleam and he nodded his head gently.

"Me too, but it's kind of nice don't you think?"

"It's too nice. Does this mean you're an outsider too?" I sunk to the sand and sat close to him.

"Everyone here was an outsider at some point"

"I know, but you leave here, at sunset, right?" I looked past him for a second and watched other people milling about on the beach. I knew most of them were outsiders, but they were so much a part of my life here I couldn't imagine them having their own lives outside of this one.

"Yes, I leave at sunset, like you"

"What's your name, how old are you, where do you live?" He was one of the only outsiders I had ever spoken to. Outsiders seemed to have more stories of their lives and they always wanted to talk, however residents, which were people who decided to live here forever, kept to themselves, interacting with other residents, but trying not to make eye contact with outsiders. I wish I knew how to become a resident. I would give anything to live here.

He smiled "My name's Ed, I'm 16, and I live in Manchester, England. What about you?"

"Lori, 16, London"

He smiled and stuck out his hand. I shook it. "Nice to meet you"

"Why were you watching me earlier?" I said, noticing the sun dipping in the sky. Ed looked away suddenly and looked at the waves of sand stretching out to the sea.

"You're very pretty" he said, still looking away, which was probably a good thing because I could feel my cheeks go bright red. We sat together for the last 30 minutes of our stay and watched the sun set.

My alarm clock buzzed in my ear and I smacked it hard so it flew across my bedroom and hit the wall on the opposite side, smashing, but stopping. I was awake, and I hated it.