Turned, Twisted, and Tossed Around

Found You

The wind played in my hair as I walked to school that lonely Monday morning. Dark bags had formed under my eyes, and my tan skin had turned nearly transparent. I swallowed hard, and blinked furiously. Michael had been missing for too long, and all I have to remember him is the note from my refrigerator, and the crushed pieces of his phone. I kicked a round rock on the sidewalk, and stared ahead. The school's entrance came into view, and I walked up to it until the school building was towering over me. The sky was unusually dark, creating even more of a depressing mood. I tugged the tall front door open, and walked straight into the continuous buzz of students. Everyone here always seems to be in a light mood, an optimistic crowd as they call it. Today everyone seemed to sneak glances in my direction, perhaps because they've noticed my loyal companion has temporally abandoned me. It felt strange walking in that hallway, knowing that the student body was analyzing my every move. I swallowed once more, even though my mouth was dry. My locker was a few rows down, and I walked faster than usual to reach it. I saw Liam a few dozen lockers ahead, and thought of saying a quick 'hello', but denied the idea once I recognized his usual surroundings. Liam seemed to be in the middle of a conversation with a group of flocking teenagers, and I defiantly wasn't going to get in the middle of that. I suppose Liam would be a definition of the word popular, but if he's popular, why would he have spoke to me? Nobody in such a high social standards would ever speak to me. I've wondered why that is the way it is a few times, and have reached a possible conclusion. I mean, my physical features seem average, I have healthy hygiene, I get good grades, but what if it isn't just what's on the outside? Perhaps people view me as a weird teenager with a high grade point average, and don't see anything worth befriending? Whatever the reason, it has shaped my life to revolve around one friend, one person who I feel like I've known my whole life. Yes, that friend would happen to be Michael, in case you were wondering. I feel like I've known him since birth, because we've spent nearly every moment together. Yet it seems entirely impossible, but I like to make myself believe. I believe in things that have never happened, are not happening, and will never happen. In short, I believe in fantasy. For impossible questions, come impossible answers. That's where fantasy tumbles in. It makes me believe that things are possible, even if Albert Einstein doesn't agree.

I threw my book bag into my locker, but it doesn't fit completely inside. I pushed it in harder, and sighed in defeat. I grabbed out binders for my classes, and tried making my book bag squeeze inside again. In the middle of my heated battle between my book bag and I, I felt a tap on my arm. I simply ignored it, passing it for a students bumping into me on accident. My book bag looked like a filled garbage bag stuffed into a metal rectangle (known as my locker). I refused to let my book bag win, and pushed it in even further inside, and felt that tap on my arm again. My lips formed a straight line as I turned around to see who dared to interrupt.

Just to clarify, I already knew who it was. I could tell you anytime, anywhere, but if I did, I would sound like an overly obsessed teenager. It just took a moment to realize if it was fantasy, or non-fiction. My eyes grew wide, and my mouth simple fell. I was about to say something when his long finger went in front of my lips. "Don't say anything. At all." I stared at him, confused, while other students stared at me. "Where have you been?" I asked him, wanting to know the answer almost more than anything. Michael bit his lip, and his words gushed out as if a weak dam broke on a waterfall. "I'll tell you everything, ...later. Just don't say anything aloud right now, I'm not even suppose to be here now. I just had to see for myself that you were alright." My left eyebrow rose slightly higher than my right. "You're supposed to be here..at school." Michael's facial expression changed, and I had a feeling that he was about to say something. Then a student named Joshua Breaklen bumped into me. "Pardon.." I quickly said to him, and Joshua turned around to nod. While nodding in my direction he walked through Michael. Literally, as if Joshua didn't even recognized Michael's existence, and as if Michael didn't really exist.