"So yeah, kids," She made no attempt to hide the tiredness in her voice, looking at her 13-year-old drama students without a smile on her face. "It's basically a free hour you've got here today. We've done character building, roleplay, all the basic stuff, and I'm guessin' you're bored of playing crap drama games." Some of the students nodded, and some just shrugged. Some sat there blankly. "Yeah. So do what you like, guys. Just don't make too much noise, right?"
"Yes, Mrs Zranii!" They chorused, and immediately there was a chaotic noise of moving chairs and chattering voices.
"It's Miss. Not married," Perhaps she was too informal with her students, but they liked it that way and they actually listened to and liked her, so why not? The thought of marriage almost made her laugh; as if an alien with no true gender was going to be in a relationship in the first place, never mind marriage!
It was ten minutes until the end of the lesson, and she was sitting on the computer chair in complete and utter boredom. The only thing she'd had to do was tell them to shut up a bit when the headmaster walked by, and from then on things were fine. The computer screen showed only the desktop, a photograph of the night sky - she could think of nothing to do but stare at it. God, work could be so damn boring.
"Hey miss?" She was reluctant to turn around at first, for the voice belonged to a child and surely they would just annoy her, but she did. And looked into a familiar face. The boy had large green eyes and floppy pale-blonde hair, and everything about him held an air of innocence despite him being thirteen years old. Danila knew this kid well; he was Quintin, a kid that had grown up in an orphanage until he was around eight or nine years old. He'd run away and disappeared for a year or so, and according to the other orphans, he hadn't been the same since. Most of his teachers and friends had said that it was probably just realising stuff and feeling bad after running away - a sort of life-changing experience. Normal, really, for such cases.
But Danila was more open to other ideas, of course. She didn't think for a moment that their theories were correct. There was something off about Quintin. Perhaps it was the lingering smell of sea salt that tended to hang around him, or that sad look in his eyes he got when people questioned him about his life. Perhaps it was the fact that Danila had connected with Quintin more than anyone else had been able to. She liked the kid. Loved him, even, despite the fact that teachers are supposed to teach and instruct, not love. It was all in a teacher's training.
But Danila's papers showing her exam results and such were all false. She was not trained to be a teacher. She could, however, act. It was something required in the human day of an alien.
"Yea--Yes?" Her attempt to be formal as a teacher should be failed.
"Can...I talk to you?" Quintin was not looking at her; his gaze was fixed on the floor. A curious sensation crept over Danila Zranii's skin at that moment.
"Outside, or here?"
"Outside, miss."
"Come on." She stood up, turning the computer off, then spinning on one heeled boot to face the rest of the class. "I'm going to discuss somethin' with Quintin here, allright? If you shout, I'll give you lines." With that the teacher and pupil left the room.
Danila led him to a room in the Art department, which was right next to the Drama department. "Allright," She said, gesturing to a seat and sitting opposite him after he'd sat down. "What's the problem, kiddo?"
"Well um..." He looked terrified now, and she frowned in bewilderment.
"Hm?"
"Um...Are...What would you do if...you thought someone was weird or different and you were...too scared to say anything? And...and you were weird or different like you thought they were? And you wanted to say something but you were too scared..." Quintin finally looked up at her, chewing on his lip. He seemed far too intelligent for a teenage boy. Most of the kids in other classes were all tough-guys and such...But Quintin was different. She folded her hands, resting her chin on them with her elbows on the table.
"Well, I would tell them what was wrong with me. And I would ask them if they were anything like what I was." Her voice was soft. It was strange, that this boy sounded so much like herself.
...So strange...
"Is there something you want to tell me, Quintin?"
But he was running out of the room.
Danila didn't see him again that day.
It was a week since she had spoken to him, and during this week, news had gotten out that he had run away, disappeared. Neighbours suspected that his parents had beaten him up, his adoptive parents were devastated and were convinced that he had run away, and his friends assumed that he'd been kidnapped. Everyone had slightly different theories, but Danila didn't care what they thought. She didn't think he had run away. No, Danila saw deeper than that, being an otherworldly creature and all. Poor Quintin was a lovely child, and she knew that his adopted parents were wonderful people, having met them twice during the year. So now, Danila Zranii was sitting in the piano room of her ridiculously large mansion, a close friend sitting on the sofa. Danila was perched on the piano stool. Her gold eyes looked seriously at Madison.
"I know he didn't run away." She stated, an angered tone in her voice. Her black bangs shielded her eyes slightly; it hadn't been brushed for a day or so, and yet it wasn't actually frizzy or messy, it just sort of fell into her eyes and flicked out at the back and sides.
"Nope, me neither, not from what you've told me. Maybe he was kidnapped?"
"But by what?"
"The 'abducted by aliens' approach won't work, huh?"
"Ha ha." Danila muttered sarcastically, but a smile twitched at her lips.
Neither of them knew how long they sat there, trying to figure out what had happened to the shy little boy from the week before.
Night came and went.
"Thomas," She hissed down the phone after lifting her head from the piano keys and flipping her cellphone open. "What time do you call this?"
"I call it eight o clock in the mornin', sweetheart. The time that you usually get up at." Thomas' voice, smooth and feline as ever, murmered to her.
"Oh, bog off." She hung up, shoving the cellphone back into her pocket and looking over her shoulder quickly. Madison was curled up on the sofa in the fetal position, sound asleep, her chest rising and falling slowly as she continued to wander in her mind's depths. The other pondered waking her, but eventually decided not to. What was the point, really? The rising sun cast light through the stained glass windows of the piano room, and down onto the floor, illuminating the sofa, Madison and the piano in the process. Danila did not feel any inclination to wake the sleeping teen just yet.
Now, what to have for breakfast? The dilemna didn't last long - pancakes quickly won over the option of cereal, since Danila knew Madison loved pancakes. She retreated to the kitchen, eyeing the cavernous area with a sigh before fetching pancakes from the cupboard and starting to spread butter over them. She warmed them up in the microwave, having made them the previous day, then plopped them onto a bigger plate and hurried to the dining table. She set them down, then returned to the kitchen briefly to pour herself and Madison some drinks; juice for Madison, coffee for Danila. She'd have made sweet tea...if she knew what it was and how to make it.
"Hnn..." A groan came from the doorway; Madison was making her presence known. She trudged in and flopped onto a chair, trying to fix the mess of brown -- medium brown, Danila noted -- hair on her head. "I fell asleep."
"Yeah, you dozed off during my piano-playing skillfest." The darker haired of the two said jokingly, chewing at a pancake.
"Hnn, sorry, I didn't mean to, I would've left bef--" Madison said quickly, looking distraught.
"--Shut up and eat, babe, I don't mind a bit." Danila interjected, amused.
Afternoon came and went, too.
It had been a while since she'd spent a day with someone that she truly cared for trusted.
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JESUS CRUST this has taken me like a week to write xD It would've been longer and more productive, but yeah. Look out for the next one if you're interested...Not that the last one, Drops of Jupiter, got any attention. 8|
EDIT: 8| If you've read this, please just comment goddamnit. I'd like to know if there's any point making a backstory for my characters.
And writing it is; the very definition. I love how your style is so straight-forward and piece by piece of how they live their lives. /envious ;^; I finally understand Danila a whole lot more and I'm glad I do, because she seems really interesting. <33 I read Drops of Jupiter too, but I'll comment on it here too to say the same thing: it's amazinggg. I didn't know she could play piano JKFLDS see you learn things, just eeee :'< Needs more recognition it does~! <3
I am intrigued. 8o *will
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I didn't expect you to read
-- Dannii <3
ah HA. NOW I find your
And writing it is; the very definition. I love how your style is so straight-forward and piece by piece of how they live their lives. /envious ;^; I finally understand Danila a whole lot more and I'm glad I do, because she seems really interesting. <33 I read Drops of Jupiter too, but I'll comment on it here too to say the same thing: it's amazinggg. I didn't know she could play piano JKFLDS see you learn things, just eeee :'< Needs more recognition it does~! <3
fdsfdf ;A; Thankyouuu,
-- Dannii <3
THIS WAS GREAT BABE. And you
And you got the whole "mess of hair" thing. -hates her thick hair- Always love your work hun.
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A Silly Haiku:
Haikus are easy.
But sometimes they don't make sense.
Refrigerator.
LOLTHANKYOU. 8> Ffff
-- Dannii <3