Stranded Pixels of Us

The Orphan and the Misfit

"My baby girl, dad would be back before you know it" Those words flashed right before her face once more on the spot. That was the last time she ever saw or heard from her dad. He lied, he didn't come back and that was because he couldn't. He died in that mission and Alessia was still not over it.

     "Alessia, are you set?". Laura said as she approached the end of the stairs.

    "Would you change your mind if I said otherwise?", Alessia walked away from the picture and replied her mum.

    Laura was a gorgeous woman, quite slender and not lavishly dressed. She wore a deep blue gown, the type you only really see in movies. 

"You just have to try it out first", Laura said softly as she played with her daughter's hair.

In Radical Congress High school, there were a lot of students, many rich ones too. Drake was the quiet boy who sat in the front with his head always in front of his shoulders.

"Hey Orphan boy, how are we doing today?", Nathan tapped Drake's shoulders teasingly.

Drake wasn't new to Nathan or the other bullies. He had been called Orphan boy for as long as he could remember without saying a word back.

"ZZZ.." The school alarm sounded and the teacher walked in. It was History class and most of the students settled down with their books on the table. The teacher went on and on, and now, he had the attention of only a few students. Most of them were either too engrossed with their phones or staring outside the classroom windows. Mr Jackson was a boring man and it was too obvious. Most students in the class took the course to boost their G.P.

In the middle of this lecture that seemed like a funeral, a girl walked in. She was no ordinary girl, and everyone found a new hobby for the next couple seconds as they all stared at her like she was a wonder. Well, she was. Alessia stood in the front of the class and nobody was beguiled as much as Drake who found his eyes doing something that he never did. He stared at her endlessly while trying to take in all that beauty in, but he just kept failing. It was like it paradise gave him a visit and he was feeling something that he hadn't felt before.

After nearly a minute of basking in her beauty, he found his consciousness restored as Mr Jackson did an introduction. 

"Class, this is Alessia. She's a new student, so be nice.", Mr Jackson said with a tone not too thick or light.

Alessia noticed a spare seat and she walked down to sit, but she didn't notice that the one beside Drake was empty too. Or maybe she noticed it and was too scared to sit in the front on her fist day. 

Drake was constantly fighting his impulses all through the day as he refused to look behind to see Alessia. He just found his brain and his feelings at war and it somehow made him smile, temporarily though.

"Zzzrr", the end of the day was here already. Drake packed his bag and walked out of the class without even daring to look behind.

Drake was seated in Dr Keating's office, a room with multiple works of art and a window so big that it brought in enough light that flooded the room. 

"It was different, like it was even more real than the others.", Drake confessed to Dr Keating.

"Just as I always say, have you tried getting an escape? If this is to work, you're going to have to concentrate on something bigger than your fears.", Dr Keating said in a therapeutic tone. Dr Keating was seated on a red executive chair which he rested his back on as he talked with Drake. Dr Keating was a black man with no hair on his head, but a little beard that was good- looking. He was some years above forty and dressed in a white shirt combined with a red tie under his black suit.

"I think I will just have to keep looking.", Drake replied.

"Was school any different today?", Dr Keating asked.

"Yes, it was", Drake answered in an enthusiastic tone. "There was this new girl, and she just seemed different, you know… like I was just happy to see her. I needed that, something to take my mind off all that life has been throwing at me recently", Drake continued and Dr Keating patiently listened.

The day might have started roughly for Drake, but seeing Alessia and speaking with Dr Keating made the day better as Drake walked home from the bus stop after leaving therapy with his earpiece in his ear, listening to Lykke Li's "Utopia" as he took confident steps that accompanied the beat.