The Sparrow

 I had a headache that made my head spin as I looked out the stained window of the yellow tinted bus. As the sun shimmered off the lake and the houses seemed to wave at me with high flying spirits, I couldn't help but glare into the blue green water that the sun had laid across. Girls were holding there ipod's and singing off pitch to the blasting music of their choice, and the teens were shouting and laughing at a joke or someone else. My ears were shattering at all the unneeded noise that filled the atmosphere of the aged bus. My eyes were concentrated into the woods and lakes and cars passing by. Every new object or scene that came into my eyesight I pondered, though I was distracted; the ruckus of the bus was enough to make a person go mad.

            Mason sat across from me and was playing with his phone, probably texting someone on the bus instead of talking to them because that's just how lazy people are today. He wasn't talking to me because we had just finished a fight that I personally think I won. I laid my head against the grubby window that showed the outside world. My eyes continued to wander viciously out the window. I gazed at the town passing by with an excruciating pain that shot up my spine into the core of my brain. The noise was going in the left irritated ear and becoming trapped in my head. I was starting to get concerned that there was something wrong with me, but I'm not one to make a fuss unless it's dire important.

            I couldn't even think after a while and could not take the pain and irritation any more. I felt like standing up and shouting at every one. My nerves were slowly dying and I knew I had to do something or say something. But still, I just stared out the window, but now it was even tenser because now I was glaring at everything. I felt my eyes yelling at my brain to stop; but I could not obey.

            "Mason?" I asked lightly, but in need of help, "Is the noise bothering you too?" I tried to talk to him to get us happy again, but also because I couldn't possibly be the only one with this pounding headache.

            He simply said "Umm, no?"     

            I was going to look at him, but I couldn't tear myself away from the window. It wasn't anything like I was really comfortable in my position and didn't feel like moving, or didn't want to look at the someone you aren't agreeing with, I seriously could not move my eyes away from the window. I was stuck. Almost like frozen in my spot. It felt like my eyes took on this self-consciousness of some sort and was now moving with free will.

            My blue eyes must have been shining as dazzling and intense as the stars. I had the prettiest eyes in my class, in my school, actually. People wouldn't know my name and would describe me as the girl with the amazing eyes.

            We turned down a street that had wide open fields, and my eyes went mad. They searched all over the fields, looking at every livestock animal and every single piece of wheat that was a tad different from any other piece or stood out at all. I was starting to get really nervous. Now maybe zoning off and hurting your eyes from looking into something bright is one thing. But, not being able to control your eyes as they frantically viewed every piece of any landscape.

            I tried with every fiber of my being to tear myself away from the window. I was starting to cry as I tried to pry intangibly, trying to somehow get my eyes away from that window. But, my attempts were futile. I was stuck. I started to think maybe this was a dream. I couldn't remember where we were returning from, who was the driver, where we were. I began doubting that this was real. I tried pinching myself several times to wake up, but that didn't work, though it usually does the trick.

            Mason finally turned to apologize, but saw my confusion and misfortune. I tried one last time to turn my head, but my eyes just would not let me. To show my frantic feeling, I hit the window lightly with my fist to get his attention. I was hoping people around me wouldn't get interested, I hated drawing a crowd, but I decided I didn't care. I just wanted help. I hit the glass lightly, just enough to show a bit of hysteria. The only thing was that it didn't seem to look lightly. I realized I had punched every piece of glass out of the window frame of the bus in one try. My eyes immediately lost their grip of the window. I was free to look anywhere I wanted. I was amazed as I stared at the glass all over my lap and the floor, and my red, bloody fist.  Mason came to my side and grabbed me.

            "What did you do?!"  He yelled anxiously, afraid we'd get in trouble.

            I couldn't talk. My mind felt like it was completely turning off and I had no control of it. I felt like I was dying. My arms became unmovable as did my legs. My eyes were burning like someone had just lit them on fire.

            I tried to say something to suppress the crowd of kids with wide open mouths and the angry bus driver from coming over to me, but I could only stutter, not being able to make any real words. The bus driver pulled over onto the side of the road and looked back at the scene again. I laid my head on Mason's lap and closed my eyes. I thought I would pass out, not have to worry about the trouble I'd be in. I felt like someone had just drained every ounce of energy out of me.

            But, I didn't fall asleep. I heard the kids whisper under their breath and I felt as if I could almost feel the steam coming out of the driver's ears. Mason was just patting my back lightly.

            Then, it seemed as if everything was slowing down. The whispers of the kids gradually seized and Bryan's hand slowly stopped patting my back and just laid on my spine. I wasn't sure if I should open my eyes, or just not care. But, I did. And as if I wasn't in enough confusion, something else happened.

            Everything, everyone was frozen. Like, frozen in time. I sat up, ignoring my head that seemed to weigh a thousand pounds. The kids were stiff, staring at Bryan and me, with some in the middle of whispering something into another's ear. The bus driver froze with the nastiest face that hopefully he wouldn't be stuck with forever. I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. Based on my earlier experiences, I figured it was a dream. I had thought it was before, so why not now? Though, I felt pain. My bloody fist, my wildly painful head, the burning sensation in my eyes. I felt lightheaded and started to feel a little delirious.

            Whether it was a dream or not, I was too delirious to care. I just laid back down onto my frozen best friend. I closed my eyes and began to slip away from the place where I was, starting to fall into a deep sleep. I was just barely awake when I heard a small bang, it sounded like a door being wedged open or a hole being kicked through. I just thought it was the people waking up, which made me smile. Madly delirious and half asleep, I stayed where I was. I felt someone starting to pick me up, though I didn't open my eyes, because I was afraid if I did, my eyes would burn again. So I just smiled again, and quickly fainted as I felt each step of the person carrying me.

            My life has never been the same since that day.