Thrift

Thrift

Prologue: *A Star That Blinds*

Things were simple once. I had planned days, packed lunches, and a loving family, or at least to me it seemed like a loving family. As time went on I slowly began to realize that life was not as simple as I thought. Life was more complex and different then I had ever imagined.

It started when my closest friend mysteriously vanished, seemingly literally off the face of the Earth. Of course I didn't know what to think. Swelled emotions, teary eyes, a longing to be connected to someone, but of course if your friend of 5 years disappears, it's only normal to wonder where they had gone. I was young however, and did not look much into it, but after a year or two, it seemed like anyone who was close to me, or tried to be my friend just vanished, never to be seen again. I didn’t know what to do, what to think, or even how to act.

People began to avoid me. It made me feel different, like some kind of animal. Every once and a while I could hear the conversations of the students.

“Did you hear about that girl Alex? I heard all her friends have been disappearing lately. The girl is really starting to give me the creeps.” I cringed from hearing my name. Why did they talk so low to me? What had I done to them?

“I know...” The other girl said aloud, peaking around the opposite corner. “That's so weird.” The other girl whispered back.

At the time, I did not know much about what happened either. It was all strange to me, out of routine. I was never a mean person... in fact; I had plenty of friends... had being the key word…

“I heard that she killed them.” One of the girls said, in a ghostly like tune. I was astonished.

How could I do that? It was my best friend! I could never hurt my best friend, the only one who I cared about. The friends I had were the only ones who reached out to me, the only ones who understood me! The only ones who accepted me… even hurting them… just… seemed to cruel. Just thinking about it made my stomach churn, as if some giant pile of crap was being mixed together. I felt like I couldn't hold on anymore, as if the world I knew was starting to slip away one piece at a time. Nothing could be the same, never again. Everyone was treating it as if it was my fault… but I didn’t know why.

I started to cry, looking for something to support my body. I slouched against the wall next to me and cried all that I could. Feeling the tears come down almost allowed me to feel better, but the same girls came around the corner looking at me on the ground, a sound of pure fear in their voice. I didn’t know what they were so scared of, my tears beginning to cover my eyes completely now, fogging my vision.

“Let's go!” One of them whispered in urgency. I could not tell who it was; and I was too blinded by my own tears to even care. I heard footsteps in the opposite direction, and then bell in for the next class some 10 minutes later. I sat there, no one coming to my aid.

Nearly a month later, school physical check-ups were due, and all the 7th grade girls lined up in their gym uniform. When my time came for the check up, I had been told how I had grown a rough 1.37 inches since last year. The dental part was my specialty, since I never had a cavity, a yellow spot, or even overlapping teeth.

He had told me to open my mouth, so I did as directed. Some kind of sent wafted past my nose as I listened to his voice proclaim the pearliness of my teeth.

“Those are some vicious looking teeth you have there.” What did he mean vicious looking teeth? My teeth were the same as all the other girls! “In fact, I can't say that I have seen too many teeth like this in my entire career. You might want to get them checked out.” He faked a smile.

After the check-ups, I decided to go into the girl’s restroom in order to take a look at my “Vicious teeth”. As I looked, I saw that nothing was wrong with them. They were normal, a little spike just like everyone else. I felt accomplished, as if I was finally normal, as if something had happened and made me feel just the same to everyone else. I sighed in relief. I was normal.

Some girl named Celina walked in, avoiding me and moving directly to a stall. I looked at her, smelling a sweet scent off of her gym uniform. It smelled delicious.

I felt something pierce my lip a bit.

I took another look in the mirror to see that my teeth had grown a few centimeters... I did not know why though. I left in total shock, straight home. I didn’t look back. I went home jogging, like I always did, but this time with a new thought in my mind. I did not know what was going on, and me being my normal confused self, I had to find out.

I did the next reasonable thing.

I asked my parents about it. It seemed however that they would turn away or attempt to change the subject any time I brought it up. It was like that for another year, and even as my body developed more, I could still not understand my teeth, or my friends being gone. I didn’t know why people didn’t like me, was something really wrong with me? Was something really going on that I didn’t know about? It was all as if some giant rain-cloud was blocking my view of a clear and beautiful sky. At least what I thought was a beautiful sky. Why were my parents avoiding it? Why was everything suddenly my fault? What did I do to deserve it?

People began to realize my teeth, and I felt even more alone and mistreated than before. I never knew this kind of sadness was possible.

People had started to call me names. Bucktooth, ugly, gothic, emo, you name it. I started to seclude myself, keeping away from people. I did not understand myself, and if no one would tell me what was happening then I would have to deal with it alone. I would have to find out alone. It was hurtful yes, but it was nothing compared to the loss of my friends. I had none left. The ones that had not disappeared had abandoned me, leaving me alone. I began to wear darker colors, and eventually black. It seemed that the Goth kids were the only ones who accepted me. But even they rejected me after two of their own had disappeared.

I was so alone.

When my parents finally had a “Talk” with me (Which I was almost certain was about sex). My life changed from that point. I had realized why I thought I was alone so long. I was not one of them... I was not human.