Alone

Nick wasn’t like any of the other kids. He was segregated this year, always off in his own little world, but he somehow always knew what was going on. Whispered secrets at the other end of the classroom echoed through his mind. He was faster than any of them, feeling as if he were gliding rather than running around the track. Some were afraid of him, shivering every time he sent a nasty glare their way. One more thing: He was the only child to have ever seen his mother cry.1

The soft tears grazing his cheek were a painful memory for him. The car wreck had left him with little physical damage, but the emotional scars were almost unbearable for him at times. His mother, who had been driving the car, had been crippled for life, and his father had all but ignored him through the constant changes at home. Nick was alone, but he had grown comfortable with it.2

A mere child, Nick’s independence gave him a sense of power. Sometimes it was lonely how everyone seemed to stare right past him, but most of the time, solitude was all Nick wanted…for a year anyway. Nick’s thirteenth birthday was the most painful day he had ever been through. Not a single person remembered, not even his own parents. In a meager attempt to cheer himself up, Nick blamed it on superstition. They’re just playing tricks on me because of the number thirteen, he soothed himself, but deep inside his chest, his heart ached. Somehow he knew that his reasoning could not be the truth.3

No one would even notice if I was gone! No one would care if I didn’t exist! Nick shook his head in despair. He bolted from his front porch, running through the waning moonlight as the tears flowed down from his sad eyes. He arrived at his destination before he knew it; the dark forest hid him in shadow and the tire marks that careened off the road and down a cliff were as clear as the day they were made. He nervously walked up to the edge. It was where his solitude had begun, and it was where it was about to end. Before he had a chance to change his mind, Nick jumped…4

The past year flashed before his eyes as he fell. The car wreck…the tears…the blank stares…his forgotten birthday…and after an eternity, the gentle thud as he slumped to the ground. There was a surprising lack of pain, and it had felt more like gliding than falling. That’s when it hit him. The car wreck had not left him virtually unscathed. He was already dead.5