Where I Belong
1173 Words
Every direction Akuji's eyes turned, he heard the whispers and he knew they were about him. It sickened him, but he tried to pay it no mind. No one wanted to sit near him either; compared to every other table there was a visible difference in the shift of the tables around him. It was all because of something he could not change about himself, his intimidating face that seem to make the girls squeak and the boys ready to hand over every last cent of their money. What had started out as being fun for him had turned into a nightmare. Today was only lessons with people that didn’t attend the same classes as him and it was still the same.
He leaned back in the chair and placed his pen down. He stared through the class window watching the clouds and the bright early morning sun. He heard the teacher muttering words about Mathematics and the constant hitting of information upon the board.
“Akuji pay attention!” a voice shouted at him.
Akuji’s eyes turned towards the teacher, “I am paying attention, and we already went through this last Sunday as well Mam. I know all of these algebra sums.”
She flinched for a moment before she responded again. “Are you threatening my authority or saying that you’re better than everyone in the class?”
“No, Miss Leacock.”
He tried to adjust his face to look calmer, but he knew he was miserably failing as the tables around him were shifting and whispers begun.
He looked at the clock in the centre of the class. “It would soon be over.”
Akuji blanked out as he kept his eyes on the board. Looking at the work he already knew. Watching the other students being called to the board to answer questions and then finally the lessons was over. The teacher gave the final information before the others in the class bolted out. Akuji took his time, he was the last to leave.
In the carpark his mother was waiting for him inside the car. The difference in their expressions was like night and day.
“Did you have a great day? What did you learn? Make any new friends today?”
She spewed questions to Akuji faster than a machine gun, he hadn’t even opened the door yet.
“It was fine, we didn’t learn anything new.” He paused on the last question.
“That’s great, don’t worry, I am sure you will make friends soon,” she said to him as he sat down and buckled himself in.
“Yeah, whatever.”
The drive home was quiet his mother would ask occasional questions every now and then, but Akuji had no interest in answering any of them. He just wanted to be home and in his room where he felt the most comfortable.
#
“Who are you?”
He heard a voice call out to him, it caused him to pull the headphone slightly off his ear and look around the room before his gaze was fixed at the time: 12 am.
A loud, animated scream rang out from the PC.
“I must be hearing things, it’s Monday morning already?”
He took a deep sigh knowing that he would have to dawn his battle armour for today for school and those bullies.
His body shivered as he adjusted his glasses with his left hand. His other hand clicked the mouse a few deep times in frustration as he killed the last boss.
He wished defeating them would be as simple as killing this boss. He would be the hero for once and defend himself. He pictured it for a moment, a more confident him walking through the halls and being approached by them. Defeating them with the mere use of words alone because his charisma was higher; those bullies would panic in fear and run down the hall. Everyone smiled and wanted to be his friend now for once and wasn’t afraid of him.
For a fraction of a moment, it pierced his mind. The laughter down the hallway, the teachers ignoring him, the finger pointing and the looks of you’re different was all written on their faces.
“Stop thinking about it! Stop thinking about it!” he said out loud.
He checked back on the game that he was downloading in the corner of the screen. P v P Dungeon Hunter it was so big that after it was updated it would probably be finished by the time he waked up in the morning.
Turning off the monitor, the screen showed his reflection for a moment as it went black. His brown narrow eyes were on the verge of closing. It seemed only to be held up by his thick eyebrows, which were raised by the wrinkles he placed on his forehead. Despite this, his face still held an ingrained serious expression. It was something he wished that he would be able to rid himself off. He touched the mole he inherited from his mother that sat on his left cheek in jest.
A loud roaring noise came from his stomach. The food his mother had left outside his door had probably long gone cold. He reached for his inhaler on the table and pushed it in his mouth.
He took a few breaths before placing it back down. Getting up from the chair, he shifted his eyes from all the bright lights in the room which were aimed at every corner that had a shadow.
It also revealed the state of his small room. The mix matched red and yellow paint of his failed attempts, to paint it the way he saw online. His clothes were thrown all over the room and the lingering dust that was thick in the air.
He sneezed a few times before he got to the door and opened it. There was his lunch and dinner with two separate notes attached to each one. He didn’t bother to read it as he took up the food and tossed the note in his room. She would never understand him at all, or what he was going through.
He opened the food to eat it, but from the first bite, it was cold, too cold to eat. He lost his appetite and didn’t want to leave the room, and so he closed it down and placed it back outside the door.
With the lights still on he took off his glasses, lay in bed.
He look up at the ceiling and realized it was gone and all that remained of it was a void of darkness.
Akuji screamed but no sound came. His body remained in place as the darkness took the room like a rushing tide.
Akuji mind rattled as it took him. I don't want to die.
- Writer
