Phantasm || irwin

[ 26 ] 2013

[ 26 ] 2013

Calum was slowly driving himself to the point of insanity, immersed in his books, trying desperately to find an answer. He stopped eating, he stopped sleeping, he no longer had time for that. He was exhausted, dark circles painted his undereyes. The only time in which he could find some rest was when the words in his books became too blurry to make out and his head throbbed in pain and the black marks which created words on a page all blended into intelligable blotches of an unreadable mess. That was when he would collapse on his desk, his forehead pressed against the cool dark wood for an approximate twenty minutes before his alarm would sound, announcing the new school day.

Harley noticed it. And she felt bad for the raven haired boy, though she could not understand his reasons for doing what he was doing. As far as she knew, she was perfectly happy with Jack. But that was all on the surface. Her love for him was artificial, despite her thoughts on it being real.

"Hey," She tapped his arm to get his attention while Jack had gone to the main office to fill out some forms and meet with the counselor about what extracurriculars he was doing. Whilst their teacher read them a scene from Hamlet, in which Ophelia becomes mad and drowns, Calum was using that time to catch some sleep. He had plenty about delusional people when it came to Harley. Ophelia and Hamlet were just going to have to wait. With his head down on his desk, and Harley not paying attention to him, he thought it was a perfect opportunity to zone out for a while. When he lifted his head to look at her, she continued, "Ashton told me you've been going through all this trouble to help me."

Calum scoffed. "So you talk to Ashton now?"

As though she hadn't heard his words, she said, "But you don't have to help me. I'm perfectly happy the way I am now."

"You're not." Calum told her. "You're not happy, you just don't know it."

"So now you know when I'm happy and when I'm not?" She eyed him with an eyebrow raised in question.

The teacher looked right at both of them and cleared his throat to get their attention. When neither of them turned, he resorted to calling their names. "Calum, Harley," He began, setting his book down on one of the empty desks and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Since the two of you are so very interested in talking, why don't the two of you come read this dialogue between Hamlet and Ophelia?"

"I'd rather not." Harley shook her head.

But the teacher gestured for the two of them to go in the center of the room. "Come on."

Calum rolled his eyes and got up from his seat. Harley hesitated for a moment, but soon left her seat. She was thankful that their class was small, with nine students, and that she wouldn't have to perform the scene in front of more people. Cindy clapped for her friend happily, trying to encourage her, but it only served to make Harley more embarrassed.

The teacher handed them each a copy of the story and they opened it to the correct page. Before they could begin, the teacher explained, "In this scene, Hamlet talks with Ophelia and makes her believe that he is no longer in love with her. After their conversation, Ophelia becomes mad. Okay, Harley and Calum, begin..."

"Uh," Calum looked at the old english words on the page. "Are you honest?"

"My lord?" She read off her book.

"Are you fair?" He continued.

Their scene continued in a back and forth conversation between Ophelia and Hamlet. The teacher stopped them every few lines, asking them to sound more alive because they sounded dead.