voice | l.h

x 1

x Loneliness

Loneliness. That's all I felt the rest of that summer. The only sounds that filled my ears were the sounds of the choking of crying echoing throughout the silent house. No mother and father, they were always working. It was as if they were avoiding their sickly child. I don't blame them.

The first day of school was something I'd been dreading since summer started. But, back then i dreaded it for a different reason. Simply the work. Now, I dread seeing the people. Being judged. I wasn't the girl who left for summer those few months ago. I was different. My lips were chapped and bloody, even though it only being August. My hair was darker and frizzy, always a mess no matter how hard I tried to sooth it. My clothes weren't up to date and trendy, much like all the other teenager's. I was a mess. A charity case if you will.

"Time to get up, Rose." the voice of my mother called from the door.

I guess it was time to come out of hiding.

"Be ready for the bus in 20 minutes." Slam. The door was shut and she was gone.

I peaked my head out from under my covers.

Too bright.

"Rose Come on!" a muffled voice yelled. I blinked and pushed my covers off of me. Let's get this over with.

. . . . .

Loud.

Why was everything so loud. I miss my room. I want to go back to the silence.

The voices were everywhere. The yelling, the laughing, the flirting. It was never ending.

I stayed silent.

I made my way through the waves of people saying their hello's and catching up with one another, keeping my head down.

I made it to my locker without running into anyone, first step done.

I opened the door and the familiar smell of musty odored books and dust welcomed me with open arms. Hello, old friend.

I grabbed my book and traced my fingers along the spine, wondering who had made this book so many years ago. My wondering was cut short when i felt a light tap on my shoulder. I whipped around with wide eyes.

"Hi," the blonde said, smiling widely at me. "I'm new here and I see that you like kinda lonely too, so I was wondering if maybe you'd like to be friends?"

I blinked at her, not knowing how to respond. She wanted to be friends with me? That girl would have no trouble fitting in with the pops just fine. But, she came to me.

"Sure." I nodded, giving her a light smile. The blonde clapped her hands quickly and squealed.

"Yay!" She giggled. "You and I are going to get along nicely!"

I nodded, a feeling of pride overcoming me. I smiled.

"Do you want to borrow some lip balm?" She asked me, blinking expectantly. "Its cherry flavored."

I blushed. How embarrassing. I hoped no one would noticed the lips, but, how can you not when they're constantly bleeding.

I nodded.

"Here you go." she reached into her purse and handed me the chap stick. "My names Chloe, by the way."

"Roseland." I nodded, applying the chap stick and licking the flavor off of my lips.

"I'm gonna call you Rosie, its less depressing ya know?" Chloe smiled, flipping her curly blonde hair over her shoulder.

I nodded.

"A women of few words, huh?" She asked. "Its odd, but okay. I can do enough talking for the both of us."

Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad. I haven't seen IT yet, and I already have a friend. A pretty friend. Not the weirdo outcast who I had expected to meet. This felt nice.

. . . . . .