Page 25 of Thrust into the Light

I go inside. There are lots of metal things in the room. The metal things look like small metal doors. Each of them has letters on them. I look at all the letters as I walk around the room. There is one that has the same letters as my name. I open it up and there are clothes in there. I grab them out and look around. I don’t see the showers Connor talked about. I walk around the room more, holding the clothes close to me so I don’t drop them. I see blue curtains that go all the way to the ground. I peek past one and it looks like a shower, so I walk into it and close the curtain. I put on the clothes, the short pants feel so big on me, I have to hold them so they stay on. The shirt is really hard to get on, and once I do get it on, my stomach shows. I can’t pull it down to cover up my stomach. It is super hard to breathe with it on. I look at the shoes that were there. They are really different from my shoes. They have strange strings on them. My shoes don’t have them. I don’t know what to do with the strings. I take off my shoes and put them on. They feel okay. Maybe Connor can tell me what I’m supposed to do with them and my clothes. I open the curtain and don’t see anyone around, so I go back to the door I came in. One hand holding my clothes, the other holding onto my short pants so they don’t fall off. I open the door and look around. Connor sees me and walks over to me. I touch my head and he nods.

I don’t know where my clothes go. These short pants won’t stay on. And I don’t know what to do about the strings on my shoes.

Connor looks around and leans close to my ear. “Your clothes go in the locker with your name on it, where you found your gym clothes. When you change back, get your clothes out of your locker and put your gym clothes back in there, the academy will take care of keeping them clean. When you’re done with that, come back here and I will help you with your shorts and your shoes.”

I shut the door and walk around till I find the letters of my name again. I put my clothes and shoes in there. I wish I could wear my shirt, so it covers my stomach. As I turn around, there is a girl standing there looking at me. She isn’t much bigger than me, and her hair is blue like my phone. She has weird metal things on her face.

“OH, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t expecting anyone else to be here. Sorry for staring. I’ve heard about you around campus, but I didn’t think we’d have the same class together! Oh, I’m sorry! My name is Faith. I am a wraith!” She holds her hand out to me like I’ve seen Connor do to a few of the males. I take her hand and give it a hug with my own. She moves my hand up and down with hers. Her hand doesn’t feel as nice as Connors does, so when she lets the hand hug go, I pull my hand back to myself.

“And you are?” she says.

Connor? Help. Connor, I don’t know what to do.

The door flies open and the Faith girl screams and hides behind me. Connor comes running into the room. “Farlen, what’s wrong?” Why is the Faith girl hiding behind me? Connor is nice. I look to the Faith girl and then to Connor, then back to the Faith girl. I touch my head.

The Faith girl gave my hand a hug and moved it up and down like you do with some males. She said she was sorry for staring at me. I don’t know what to do.Connor looks strange for a second and then looks at the Faith girl.

“Faith is it? Sorry for scaring you. My name is Connor. This is my match, Farlen. She is still pretty new to mostsocial interactions, so she didn’t know how to handle someone introducing themselves to her. Uh, if you don’t mind since I am in here, I am going to help her with her clothes and shoes. I will be out of your hair in just a second so you can get dressed.”

I look back at the Faith girl and she is just staring at me again. Why does everyone stare at me? At least she isn’t doing it with the look like some of the other people do, like they just ate a lima bean. She is looking at me sadly, like Connor and the Instructor did. Connor bends down and makes loops with the strings on my shoes. I can feel his hot breath on my leg and my stomach make that weird feeling again, this time a lot lower. He stands up and pulls some strings on my shorts, and makes loops with them too. I look at him and smile, and he comes close and puts his lips on my forehead. I feel his hot breath there. Is that what he has been doing every time I feel his hot breath?

“Alright ladies, I will leave you guys now. Farlen, if you need me, you know how to get a hold of me.” He touches his head in the way I’m supposed to and I think I understand. He leaves and the Faith girl stops hiding behind me.

“Wow, I am so sorry. I didn’t know. So your locker is right next to mine. We will be locker besties! I’m going to get changed now. Do you know much about this class or what we are supposed to be doing in it?”

She talks a lot. How can she hold so many words in her without taking air? My head tilts to the side to look at her as she continues to talk.

“No? That’s okay neither do I. Well I mean, I kind of get the idea that it is a physical type of class just based on the name, but outside of that I have no clue what we are going to be doing, Gods I hope it isn’t running, I suck at running. Have you seen how little my legs are, it takes me twice as long to move as far as some of the other people I mean geeze.”

Her legs are longer than mine. I look down at my legs.

“Oh man, again, I am sorry. My Momma always told me that one day my mouth was going to run away with itself and get me in trouble. Your legs are even smaller than mine. Which I thinkis a first for me! I’ve never met someone smaller than me before though my brother is a complete freak of nature, you’d think being related to me and coming from my Momma he’d be short, but no, he took all the tall genes and didn’t leave any for me.”

She takes off her clothes and puts on her new clothes, too. Her shirt is just as small as mine.

“Oh, come on, how are these supposed to protect us if any magic gets loose? There’s hardly any clothing to it at all!” Her skin is so smooth. It’s like Connor’s. There are no scars anywhere on her. There are little brown dots all over her back. It doesn’t look like it’s something someone did to her. I reach out and touch one, and it feels just like the rest of her skin.

“Oh um. So that Connor guy said you don’t know much about social things, uh it isn’t really nice to touch someone other than their hand, without asking them first. Have you never seen freckles before?”

I shake my head at her. I did something bad. I need to remember not to touch people unless it’s their hand.

“Hey, why do you look so sad suddenly? Did my big mouth say something bad? Ohhhhhh, uh it’s okay that you touched me. I don’t mind, it just kinda took me by surprise. I just wouldn’t touch other people without asking them first.”

I nod my head at her and keep my eyes on my feet. Why do I always do bad things? I am not a nice person. I am mean and bad. I open the door and my eyes begin to leak. I walk through the door, my eyes still leaking and I can feel the coolness of the water on my skin as I walk outside. Connor grabs my hand and uses his other hand to make my face look up towards him. He looks sad and angry at the same time.

“Why are you crying, sweet girl? What happened?” I just shake my head at him. I don’t want to say he will be mad at me.

“Hey, hey, now, nothing you could say would make me mad at you. Why don’t you use your head to tell me what is wrong with you?”

I touched the brown spot on the Faith girl’s back. She told me I’m not supposed to touch people without asking them first. It made mefeel bad.

“Ah, I see. How about I talk to Faith when she comes out for you? I know you weren’t trying to be disrespectful to her. You were just curious about her freckles. Why don’t you go line up with the guys in front of the Instructor?”

I nod my head at him, look back at my feet, and walk over to where all the other people are. I hear people talking about me again. They are talking about my scars. I give myself a hug. I don’t like all these eyes on me. I look back to Connor, who is standing there talking to the Faith girl. She doesn’t look mad; she looks kind of sad. Connor doesn’t look angry. I turn a bit so I can hear what they are saying.

“Listen, she doesn’t understand a lot of things, and I’m not just going to spill her secrets to someone she just met. Maybe try to earn her trust. She will open up eventually if she feels like she can trust you. Try to talk to her and treat her like a youngling. It will make interacting with her a little easier for now.”

The Faith girl doesn’t say anything, just walks away from Connor and comes and stands next to me. I look back at Connor and he is walking over to where a bunch of other males and a few girls are standing. Connor looks over his shoulder and smiles at me. He turns back around and continues walking towards those people. The Instructor walks out onto the grass area. He has to be the biggest male I’ve ever seen. I take a step back and try to make myself smaller.

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