Your fairytale is our reality- chapter one

Instructions

Chapter one. (WARNING. bullying, high emotions) I’ve always been an outcast. Since the day I was born. I’ve never fitted in, fitted into the square box, when really, I’m a diamond. Maybe everybody thinks if they can just mold me a little, I will fit. They probably do. I know I will never fit. I know a few things. I know I don’t come from here. My adopted parents found me on their doorstep, wrapped in cloth. Apart from that, my past remains a mystery. I know the purple scar on my neck has been growing steadily for years, bit by bit. I know I grew my fringe long to hide my hideous blank eye. Other than that, the real me remains a mystery. I know I’ve never been accepted as me. My parents thought I was a girl. I didn’t. Unfortunately, my speaking abilities developed a bit late. I was three when I was finally able to explain their mistake, and they were terribly flustered. I know I have known since that very first day at school, when I walked into the classroom, holding my father’s hand tight. As soon as the teacher laid eyes on me, she flinched. “What a er… unique child” she squeaked. I could see the fear in her eyes. Later that day, I was talking to a classmate, my hair drooped over my eyes. He seemed confident, until I jerked my head up and we locked eyes. Perfect brown staring into poisonous red.everyone seemed distant. Estranged. My parents did my best to accept me, but when my brother Oscar was born, with acceptable eyes and hair and no ugly scar on the back of his neck, they seemed to grasp the chance to become a ‘normal’ family. They encouraged me to hide my face. Hide my jet black hair with sapphire tips. Hide me. Everyone was different around me. Except Elana. Me and Elana Dolphin have always been friends, ever since she sat with me at lunch in year three, when no-one else wanted to. She always saw I didn’t fit, but it was fine because she didn’t either. She never looks me in the eye, but I never have a feeling she is scared to. When she does look at me, I can see the understanding in her eyes. We have both been outcasts before, and we can be outcasts together. Over the years, we became inseparable. Only a few years ago, we realised it was more than a friendship. I’m standing at the window, watching the rain fall constantly, dripping down the panes. I hear the creak of the door as it opens my fathers voice greet the new arrival. The footsteps of the newcomer echo down the hall. I know those footsteps. I turn and face her, dripping in the doorway. “Soggy?” I grin. She throws her bag on the floor, wincing at the small pool of water that seeps into the boards. “Mhm.” I sigh. Els is never one for talking. She comes and joins me at the window. I turn back to the night. “At least you’re here now.” She dumps her head on my shoulder and laughs wetly. “Yeah.” I know, that whatever the rain throws at her, Elana will always be there for me. And I will always be there with a towel to dry her off. In that moment, watching the sky cry together, I feel as happy as I ever knew I could feel. Which is strange, because that was the night I found out I was not human.