Quiet. That was the only way he could think about his world. Quiet. Sometimes it seemed to him he was watching everything through a bubble that muffled the world and disconnected him. He had always thought he was alone in feeling this way. There were the overly dramatic kids who dressed in dark clothing and acted aloof. He’d always gotten the impression they were just trying to get attention.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvOniyjfGq7
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But then he’d seen her. She was walking with a group of friends. They stopped to chat in front of where he was sitting, virtually ignoring him. He was reading Catch-22 (Either out of pretentiousness or the legitimate feeling of having found a kindred spirit, he felt a particular kinship to Yossarian).699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxMvQ9emwJO
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQaamt59Nb
The girls had distracted him – he’d always found one of them to be especially pretty. It wasn’t that girl who drew his attention this time, however. It was her. He had to take a careful look. She was talking with her friends amicably and enthusiastically, but there was clearly some part of her that was holding back.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLY6FrmLlg1
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She was in a bubble too.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE1I3k22h7F
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It’s windy today. He isn’t particularly surprised. The Northern California weather is fairly bipolar in the spring. He isn’t wearing a sweatshirt, though. It seems to him that feeling the wind cut into his skin in its entirety is a fitting tribute. He takes a quick sip from the flask in his hand and grimaces at the strong, bitter taste. He forces himself to drink more as his thoughts return to her – although, to be honest, they have never truly ever left her.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEopPeza3Oj
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2A99R7htER
He has twenty-six minutes.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ohUc4V8fj
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She’d been in class with them since kindergarten or so, but his attention had never been drawn to her for any reason. She ran with her crowd, he ran with his (much smaller) one.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnz0mxRwUYC
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡouBYpR6waA
Since then, he’d been virtually consumed with trying to find an in – some way to approach her. He had momentarily amused himself with the idea of just going up to her and talking. He was, as he’d realized, unusually self-reflective. He doubted she had an idea that she was in a bubble.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13PSfnreaE
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcbRmFdWGkB
When their honors chemistry teacher had seated him beside her, he could have considered it a stroke of luck. But the truth was, he had been waiting for this moment for four years. And, still, he was frustrated to find himself at a loss for what to say.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsv1Yky07xQ
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTabaDhERCK
She was the one who talked to him first – outside their lab discussions, that is. He had been bored with the teacher’s lecture. His parents, teachers, and doctor considered him a “genius.” All of them pushed him to take the hardest, most challenging classes he possibly could. When his parents had realized that he was breezing through honors chemistry, they had wanted to petition for him to be moved to AP chemistry, but when he’d been waiting for this opportunity for so long, he couldn’t let it slip through his fingers. So, he’d purposely failed the first honors chemistry test.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYgExG10WeG
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC3AG4QUrHn
It was a few days after the test that he had been absently doodling a ninja on his notes. He saw her glance over. He was, admittedly, a little embarrassed and he swept the paper off his desk and into his backpack. She looked at him quizzically and he whispered the first thing that came to his mind, “Ninjas don’t stay out in the open.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9IlkGhDuwa
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG3S9kcdniO
He’d wanted to slap his forehead as soon as he said that, but surprise had colored her face, only to be replaced by a little smile. He was ecstatic. It was a start, right? There was no way he could have expected what happened next.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKiIYRvXzCo
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ36duT2euv7
He went to his locker after school, and she was standing there. She turned her gaze to him and then turned away, saying, “I have something to show you.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuSBtB2IXzS
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfPiKCzlOZX
The sun hit her face at an angle that made her eyes seem translucent. He couldn’t look away.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxxLK73dGgo
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Everything had changed after that and he never, ever wanted it to return to normal.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsQkoKkD4H
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKnvwMjp0ZB
People were more than a little surprised at first – he was too, he had to admit. In response to the disbelieving stares, she just walked forward, firmly holding his hand. He couldn’t even say when the looks at faded, when the two of them together had become natural to everyone.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnl0klDvBb
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDL2VGasxxA
Outside of school, the two of them had their own world. Their bubbles had merged.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSh3arQHrZ
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpDMimlIOGn
She moved at the speed of light, only really sitting still at rare instances. He loved how relaxed she looked when she was seated in her attic, surrounded by the miniature world she’d built. Sitting there was always cramped and uncomfortable, but it was one of his favorite places to be, just because of the way she always grew completely absorbed in her tiny village.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgUio7biiq
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeE3zEv6upS
While he’d never been able to stand up to people, she easily bulldozed through conflicts. Still, when they were together, the façade of fierceness crumbled and she collapsed into his grip, looking like the most fragile creature he had ever seen. He would stroke her hair at those times, but somehow he felt the strongest urge to comfort her when she was in “Warrior Goddess” character, as one of them had dubbed it (although neither of them could later remember which one of them had come up with it). She told him he was the battery that kept her going.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiq57kRIrO3
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Pc4VGIxmQ
He’s starting to buzz now. The overhead lights are beginning to flash and the wind doesn’t sting so much anymore. He still has fourteen minutes.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJgXxIH5SCM
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgkkqzgoVu2
She reminded him of Scarlett O’Hara – from the novel, as he had never seen the movie. He never told her that, though, because sometimes he worried he wasn’t enough. He felt that a Scarlett O’Hara needed a Rhett Butler. But then she would look at him, suddenly and without any real reason and smile very, very slightly. It was their secret acknowledgement.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkoZKpdaHP9
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLaj72IKSO
Spending time with her, especially at school, meant that he was also spending time with her friends – both guys and girls. He expected that to be annoying, but he was stunned to find that it wasn’t. He liked her friends. He liked her when she was alone with him, but he also liked her when she was with all of them.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXP8fcBW0ab
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcYN005O6tq
He didn’t know exactly when it had happened, but suddenly there was no longer a bubble.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGOIWkyeecE
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKn7xQnFltv
It didn’t take him long to realize that she didn’t invite him over very often – and when she did, it was always afterschool and she would nervously usher him out after a couple of hours. He was never invited over on weekends. They would either go out or hang out at his house.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqkjmrqgmBW
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeJ2RU5QkaW
He knew she lived with only her father and he’d met him only twice in all the time they were together. Her father seemed tired from work and had given him a frail smile that looked so much like hers when she was particularly jaded, that he was surprised. But she hadn’t seemed happy at all to have her dad meet him. He asked her about it and she had replied that she was embarrassed that he had met her dad, not the other way around.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTuw3lS5XtZ
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4EV85TEQ55
One day, he kissed her and slid his hand under her shirt onto her bare stomach. She flinched away and for the first time, he truly took charge, forcing her to show him what was wrong. Her stomach was mottled with bruises. She airily told him they were an effect of her clumsiness. As far as he could think, she was the least clumsy person he’d ever known.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlmxVSvewiU
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkgHyBcGFB
As worried as he was, he couldn’t bring himself to broach the topic again. She was unpredictable in her anger. Their relationship was characterized by his ability to keep the peace and not get riled up over every little thing. That was her forte. She would get riled up and he would support her in her fury before trying to calm her down gently.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp2EGERGPdh
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJ93GGp3w8
He didn’t want to risk driving her away. Not now. Not when she was the most important thing in his life.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡORka8ffwzr
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡur1RtaQSbm
Then it happened. She wasn’t answering his calls, which didn’t make sense at all. If she would be unable to take his calls, she would warn him in advance. He knew, of course, that situations did crop up unexpectedly. Nevertheless, he was unsettled. He kept getting the feeling that something was horribly wrong.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5C7y41FdO7
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnPS3JezLEU
He drove over to her house and rang the doorbell. Although he could hear sounds from inside, no one answered. So, he tried knocking on the door. When that failed, he went around to her bedroom, where the window was open like he knew it would be. He shimmied through it. The sound he’d been hearing, he could tell now, was sobbing. He dashed out of the room and followed the source of the sound to the dining room.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOWE4zjIW4u
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95R7O9bPrw
She was lying on the floor, curled up in a ball. He was afraid to touch her and hurt her even further. He called the paramedics and had her taken to the hospital where it was determined that two of her ribs had been broken. At first everyone was occupied with her injuries, but he knew he would be questioned about them. He didn’t know what to say. He was so afraid to tell the truth.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Yu6q0sf02
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGw2bHICFRm
But…but if he didn’t do it, this could happen again – or worse. The thought of her being hurt again was unbearable. She had to know he was doing it for her because he didn’t want anything to happen to her ever again.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ11WcByRYGa
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Eug8YwFxD
So, when he was asked, he ended up telling them the truth.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiTQPIhi4l3
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOLWAytozFa
His fingertips and lips are tingling now. He licks his lips, amazed by the strange sensation and alternately flexes and clenches his fingers. His eyesight is flickering and it takes him awhile to focus on the clock. Seven minutes.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWQAgvIfFma
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUmSkm474kr
Child protective services came when they were in honors chemistry. The class had changed seats, so he was no longer beside her. Still, when they came to get her, she shot him a murderous look he knew very well – one that had never been directed at him.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ22V3fTVWQR
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGjweLnsosb
He just wanted the chance to talk to her and to explain, but she completely cut him off. She didn’t return his calls and her eyes just slid past him in the school hallways. He couldn’t allow himself to give up. He couldn’t allow himself to apologize either. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He was just trying to protect her.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMGgxKkCdog
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjJ9gz1F4P
People stuck out their feet in hallways and laughed nastily when he tripped. They purposely shoved past him and knocked his books to the ground. He couldn’t believe people were ignoring the fact that her ribs had been broken. All through this, she pretended she didn’t see anything.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjrHtGHcbH4
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQ5r8GhBBM
He couldn’t believe how much it hurt. Things hadn’t affected him directly when he’d been in his bubble. But now that it had burst, there was nothing to blunt the pain. He didn’t want to give up, but he wasn’t strong enough. He couldn’t handle this kind of treatment, especially from her.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQLZ2kg2kQg
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYfg44MWV0
Eventually he gave up when the frostiness of her gaze didn’t change in the slightest. He hoped someday she would come to terms with what he did – that she’d understand and forgive him for it. For now, he didn’t know how to handle it. Instead of being in a bubble, he was in a box. He felt claustrophobic.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTWcvCs5Dh2
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He knew then that there was only one way out.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVY6jSJ2d39
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBjAEB5PjT
He rises to his feet and staggers, throwing out his hand against a pillar to catch himself. There isn’t anyone around, thankfully. He wants to be alone. It’s only appropriate. The Baby Bullet train is on its way. It doesn’t stop at this station, just speeds right through. That's what he’s waiting for. Thirty seconds. He sees the lights.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57itLslnw5
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He conjures up her face and wills her to smile and to someday forgive him. Ten seconds. He takes a deep breath and lets go.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8NYXobNyBf
Penana
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