I figured I'd type out the first part of a story I have in my head here. If it's miscategorized, feel free to move it. It is a story that has nothing to do with Oddworld. I worked for days on this.
Monday
It feels strange to go to another country, doesn’t it? Especially since nothing is familiar. The places are different, you have to adjust to different surroundings again, memorize those important places, and get new friends if you’re staying long. I’ll be doing a lot of the first two, mainly because I’ve been travelling for days now, by plane and now by boat. I’m in a little simple cabin room with two beds, a small window where I can see the ocean stretch out for miles if I stand on something, lying on ‘my’ yellow-quilted bed.
The reason I’m here is, I won a competition. I didn’t know the prize; all I had to do was answer some questions about a school in America called Grayfall High. Simple, I just had to *wiki it, it said internet studying was okay on the paper and not cheating. It’s supposed to be a huge secondary school, maybe as tall as, or taller than a skyscraper. It’s decent too apparently, with a zero-tolerance bullying system, (then again, a lot schools say they have zero tolerance, so I could be wrong) good food (supposedly organic) and sunny weather. Then again, being Scottish, I’m getting kind of sick of this American sun and sunburn.
The prize was, I get to go to one of America’s largest highschools – Grayfall High itself. The only catch is, I have to write a diary while I’m there, to be showed to researchers. I figured, and my mom figured, it would be a good once in a lifetime chance. I could still write to my three friends, and I still do, so it helps when I miss them. My brother is six and can’t write good, so mostly he just sends me these *daft cute pictures. So I decided I’d go. I live with my mom and little brother back at home, my dad died when I was eight. I can’t really describe how it feels, except I try to block it out and not think about it like my mom does, and that I wished he was still alive. My brother was just born at the time that accident happened, he doesn’t remember him. He’ll never truly know who his father is, especially as we’re both too distraught to talk.
So right now the large boat has stopped, moving ever so slightly and bobbing on the seawater outside. We’re picking up more people from a different airport, some of the delinquents apparently. ‘Troubled’ children, if you know what I mean, bad kids. I’ll just wait here with my diary and see what happens.
A whole hour until something did, I must have unusually high patience. One of the adults helping with the whole bring-the-kids-to-Grayfall thing came in ‘my’ room with a boy.
He looks my age, an average to scrawny build, with pale skin and scruffy black hair past his ears in places around his head, completing the messy scruff look with baggy black combat trousers, old worn out trainers and a red shirt that looks like he’s worn it for days. The lady doesn’t look too happy about something; my guess is there’s a lack of space and I’m going to share a room with this possible bad boy. He doesn’t seem to have a mean face, just a blank one, lacking in interest or emotion. The slightly plump lady is looking sternly in my direction, head framed in short brownish-red hair.
“There’s a lack of space, you two will be sharing a room…” She said bluntly, then going to bring some of his bags in. He looked upset and against it, but didn’t dare say anything as she left briskly, obviously bored or fed up dealing with possibly fifty or more kids. She half-dropped half-threw the scruffy old thing on the floor, blue, worn and sausage-shaped, with two stitched on red material handles like the ones usually on a schoolbag, but wider.
I’m guessing by the look of it and that she’s left, not *chucking any more bags in, that that’s his only item of luggage and he’s poor. We did a project on poverty in my country in second year; I learned that poorer families usually don’t look after their kids well (leave them at home), lack in discipline (four year old son, please don’t hijack that JCB), lack in money (I learned I’d rather have a job than be on benefits) and the kids usually screw around for fun (i.e., break a window and run, what idiots). But seeing as I don’t know this guy, I’ll just wait and see what he does. I’d rather not share my room with a boy, but at least we get separate beds.
Apparently there’s a sort of crack or huge river near the country’s edge, so instead of driving around it, the adults figured we should take a shortcut by boat. The boy is sitting on the other bed, swinging his feet over its edge, not bothered enough to take his scruffy shoes off. They look like they could fall apart, with all those wears and tears, and the white material gone grey. Since I can’t really write letters to send to Eve, Sue and Alana till I get to school, I’ll just talk to him. What’s the worst that could happen?
I got off my lazy butt and sat beside him, not too close or far away. His eyes are just rooted to the floor. On closer inspection I can see they’re light blue. He’s looking at me, waiting for a reply, or something.
“Hi, my name’s Aisha, what’s yours?”
I can’t think of anything better to say. Can you? He’s not saying anything, he could be a looney. He’s just staring up at my face from his slight crouching position, slightly darkly, like he’s going to lunge at me and eat me like a crazed cannibal, but not mad enough.
“Renalokuni October Smith.” He said casually, like he was telling me the weather. He might as well of, I party have no idea what he said, apart from the first part sounded like ravioli. He knew I must of looked confused, and answered me again. “Renalokuni.” He answered again, looking over at the window.
Well, this is gonna be an awkward conversation, I’m speaking to someone with a long name I barely remember or know how to spell, who seems a little psychotic to be honest. So emotionless, or just plain uninterested and bored. “Where are you from? I’m from Scotland, I live with my mom and brother, you?” I said, trying to get a decent chat going. Silence. “England, I live with my mother.” He said bluntly, making more eye contact. Well, it’s gonna be a long ride until I get there, might as well give myself some company.
*Daft - silly
*wiki it – look up word on wikipedia
*Chucking - throwing
Night
I hate it here, it almost makes me wish I was back home with that b**** I have to call mom. I just call her mother or b**** behind her back, she isn’t worthy of the title mommy, she’s a sl**! My dad isn’t much better, he’s just a man whore who pays child support! And that’s what happens when two hoes clash, you get a psycho kid with foundation level education in most subjects at school who’s lucky he wasn’t aborted. (Mother says anyway, minus the hoe part I added, I bet she only found out I invaded her womb when it would of killed her literally to kill me) And why I hate it here? I’m in a boat, and there is a freaking storm outside! I can hear thunder or lighting, it’s black with clouds and lightning flashes outside the window and the boat is rocking like the washing machine back home, only ten times worse! I wanna get outta here! What if the storm wakes up a giant squid and it eats the boat?! Or a blue whale swallows it?! Those things are bigger than giant squids and t rexes! And a t rex is the same size as a giant squid! And what if the boat capsizes?! Or a tsunami smashes or drowns it?! I’m gonna die!
“Ravioli?”
S***! Oh, it’s just Aisha. I thought it was a man eating landshark who’d snuck on board and wanted to kill me and eat me.
“Yes?”
She looked like she was about to say something, but now she looks like she stopped due to she saw something shocking. “Uhhh, Ravioli?” She said, raising an eyebrow, looking confused.
“Yes?” I muttered.
“Do you…You know I can see you sucking your thumb with a teddy bear under your arm, right?”
Sighing, I said “It’s Renalokuni. And yes, I notice, your point?” She looks like she’s lost for words, and trying to find them, by the look on her moving face.
“Well, doesn’t it embarrass you?” She said, finding the words she had looked for. I briefly looked at the flashing window and ducked back under the covers. I don’t wanna get hit by that thunder if it zaps through the window.
“Not really, I get scared. Why?”
“I can see that…” She muttered, like I wasn’t supposed to hear. “Well anyway, Renoloony-” “Renalokuni.” I corrected. Seems obvious to me she meant my first name. “Right then, Renalokuni… Is it okay if I just call you Ren or something instead? Just since you have a big name and all, plus I probably won’t remember you for long, we’ll be at Grayfall High in a couple of days. Is that okay?” “Sure, sure…” I muttered under the blanket, rolling over on my side to sleep. I feel less scared now that I’ve talked to someone.
Tuesday
I’m supposed to be a kid genius (my dad says), going to a better school than I used to, a huge one with a huge library, organic food and sunny weather, yet I’m scared, have cried over stupid stuff like not knowing what to take, my sister saying I’m too special to go, since I was doing fine at my other school (ha ha, like she got bullied all through secondary), and the only understandable thing I whined about was leaving my home and family this summer, and only going home the next. A whole year without my sister at least, who just takes a jealous *hissy fit about how much more praised I am than her, despite being autistic. Well Esmerelda, maybe that’s because I behave, get good grades, and don’t drink and skive like you do, and fall in with the wrong crowd. I don’t fall in with any crowd, I’m an unpopular kid. After getting bullied for three years, I kinda just avoid all social contact for fear of screwing up. Which I inevitably will if I don’t.
I’m walking across the wooden deck, dragging that trolley-thingy like the ones they have in golf games, with all my bags on it. I just have to go in, ask an adult where my room is, and be lead there. If, I don’t take a screaming crying hissy fit first, ask questions later. The sea looks nice today.
*Hissy fit – strop
*Skive – bunk off school
I love it here, you can see the sea stretch out for miles and that long winding shore where we’re heading to in the distance. It’s beautiful here, there’s a huge harbour, some cruise ships passing by, some of the other people here wandering around the edge of the boat. The sun is shimmering on the waves and giving me a tan, it’s just so wonderful here. My family is on the bad side, i.e., insanely racist, so it’s nice to get away from them for a while. It looks like someone’s standing next to me; I can feel another arm brush up against mine.
I can see the person now. He’s a black boy, with a good build, gorgeous dark brown eyes and short black hair, like an African American basketball player. He seems to be dressed casually in sporty clothes, a vest and tracksuit pants, with his luggage somewhere else. My gosh, he’s cute.
And with a gorgeous smile too.
“What country are you from?” He spoke in an African accent. I think I’m in love with this guy. “France, my family moved zere from Wales, I picked up the accent pretty fast.” He laughed, and I laughed with him. “Do you want to go inside?” He suggested, still with that smile with pearly whites visible. Nodding, I said “Sure!” And followed in through the doors, on the wooden floor on the swaying boat.
Night
I swear, that Ren guy is seriously starting to concern me in a terrified way and is annoying the hell out of me. I can’t sleep from yet another thunderstorm (yet the grown ups say everything will be fine and the boat won’t sink or anything), or that crazy boy making those weird noises. I can hear him sucking his thumb and whining like a yelping mongrel from across the room and shrieking every now and then when the thunder rumbles and roars, the stupid lightning keeps on flashing like someone is fiddling with the light switch. If it wasn’t for the fact that he’s doing it because he’s scared and that I pity him ever so slightly, I’d thump him and go whining to one of the stricter adults. He’s stopped, and it sounds like he’s walking closer to me across the floor. What now?
“Aisha?” He said, with a slight tremor of fear in his voice. He flinched as some more lightning flashed.
“Yes?” Hopefully he doesn’t notice the obvious annoyance in my voice.
“I’m scared…” He muttered, still holding that stuffed toy in his hand from last night. “Cloud is scared too.” I moaned, sitting up in bed. Can’t this kid just sleep like everyone else? “Who’s cloud?” He moved his hand nearer me briefly, with that teddy with a button eye swinging its loose limbs at me. I can’t tell from the dark, but I’d say it’s some dark colour, and by the lightning flashes, I can see it has a swirl drawn on it in pen. What kind of a person has a teddy in their teens and names it Cloud anyway?
“My friend. He’s my only friend, I made sure he came with me. We both don’t like thunder.”
Hmm, his only friend, wonder why. Maybe because he’s probably 14 and sucks his thumb, has a name like spaghetti, blethers like a dog when he’s scared and dresses like a scruffy emo. Please tell me he doesn’t actually think that old raggy thing has a mind of its own.
“Me and cloud are gonna go look for someone to talk to, are you coming?” He’s bonkers. “Fine, I’ll come…” I muttered, getting out of bed. I suppose I wanna be there if some randomer makes fun of him for walking around in scruffy red pyjamas and a teddy bear in his hand. He’s first to go out into the dark corridor, with lighting still flashing at the windows. He’s wandering in his bare feet while I fumble in my bag for slippers, finally finding them and following him. He’s just opened a random door and walked in. He’ll scare the heck out of people with that kind of random entrance in the middle of the night, and that pale traumatized face, he’s like a ghost.
I’ll follow him anyway. Trying to be quiet, I can see there is a bed at the right side of the room, and a bunk bed at the other. A white girl is on the bottom bunk, whilst a black boy is on the other bed. I can’t see onto the top bunk from here, and I’m not bothered climbing the wooden ladder. Ren is just staring at the girl, like he expects her to get up. She muttered and turned over in her bed, her eyes flickering open. Her face was white as a sheet when she saw Ren. “AKIM!” She screamed. Boy she can scream, I just had a heart attack there! Now another one because Ren started screaming back! The black boy has woken up, leaping out of bed with a glare… And has just grabbed Ren around the shoulders and pushed him onto the bed. And Ren is screaming like a girl and running out of the room. Now he’s running back in because he left his teddy on the bed!
The two boys are freezing and staring at each other like cats. Will the stronger one owning the territory attack or let him leave? Some more lightning flashed before Ren yelped and burst into tears. I used to think he was calm and emotionless. Then I thought he was crazy. Now I think he’s crazy with split personality disorder or is just a wimp. “Don’t hurt him!” He bawled, as the African boy and girl stood and watched, baffled. He dodged as Ren dashed past him, grabbing the stupid bear and running out of the room, as a slightly chubby sleepy blonde girl poked her head over the top bunk bed. Confused, they both looked at me.
“I don’t know that guy; I just share a room with him…” I said in my defence. Ren nervously poked his head through the doorway before ducking back as we all looked his way. “He got scared and wanted to wander around, so I figured I’d go with him…” Sniffing, I said “I don’t want the crazy emo jumping overboard.” They didn’t share the humour. The nerd in the blonde pigtails looks hurt. She looked away shyly when I looked at her. “Anyone wanna hang out or something?” The black boy smiled. “Sure. My name is Akim, and this is Ria and Blanc.” He said, pointing to the two girls. He beamed at Ren, who was looking at him in a terrified way from the doorway. “What’s your-” “I am not an emo!” He snapped before running down the corridor. I could hear his bare feet travel down the wood floor.
The boy Akim looked confused before smiling again, and setting off to look for that psycho. I can hear a brief quiet conversation between the two boys down the hall while those two girls look at me. The blonde is looking away, again, and going back to lying in her bed. The brown long haired girl smiled, getting out of her bed and ready to have a conversation. Some lightning flashed, showing the highlights in her hair. “So what’s zat boy’s name zen?” She spoke in a French/Welsh accent. Weird. “Oh, some big made up word I don’t remember, I just call him Ren for short.” She smiled. “Are you going to stay and talk?” She asked in a friendly way. I yawned. “Nah, I’m off to bed…” I muttered, walking out of the room. I could see Ren and Akim talking whilst the weirdo stood against the wall, looking at me briefly then back at ‘Cloud’.
Forget it. I’m cranky, I’m tired, and I’m off to bed.
Wednesday
We made it to shore, eventually, after ages, and I’ve been sitting next to that Ria girl in this hot stuffy crowded bus, and she won’t talk to me. She just looks out of the window. I’m getting bored of looking at all of the sunny cities and streets outside, we better be there soon. We seem to be coming to the centre of the place, there is less buildings around the place, a car park as big as the ones in shopping malls, grass lawns and a really huge building. The bus has halted to a stop, and the supervisors are helping to bundle everyone off the bus as quick as possible. Walking along in the line, I can see the heaps of other buses coming here, some already here ages ago, with the kids going towards the huge building.
Now that I’m out, with Ren nearby me and carrying his bag (because Cloud is in it and gets scared without him, he says), everyone has scattered around the wide path, all heading into the giant building. I stopped to get a look at it.
It’s absolutely huge. It must be as high as or higher than a skyscraper, wider than it is high, with rows and rows of windows along the red bricks. There’s a sign high up that says GRAYFALL HIGH, with the words Bonus vadum increbresco in terminus underneath it (probably Latin). The school grounds around it seem to stretch off behind the old trees, with concrete, grass and gravel in places.
This is it. Grayfall High, my new secondary school. Wish me luck.
Critiques welcome.
A non fanfiction story I made up
I like comments.