This was built off that title prompt. 250 Words. I am working on making it a lot longer, to explain the story a bit. It got HM in S. Muir’s Thursday contest.
Alone. She always sat alone. Walking to school. Alone. In the cafeteria. Alone. Walking home. Alone.
For all I knew, she only spoke when a teacher asked her a question or when she told the server what she wanted for lunch.
Everyone noticed. Some mean kids laughed about it. Sometimes to her face. She didn’t respond. There was nothing peculiar about her. She’d moved into the district over the summer. No one knew from where. She had a family, though no one knew anything about them.
I followed her home and she got on a bus about ten blocks from school. I didn’t get on. It was a bus into the City. I followed her the next day. I rushed to catch her before she reached the bus stop. She bristled at the touch I gave her shoulder to stop her. But she stopped. I asked why she didn’t speak. She thought for a moment. She was heavily weighing her options.
“If I talk, they’ll hear me and come for me.” She cringed as she said it, fear enveloping her eyes. “It’s why I go the library every day. No one expects me to talk.”
She was sweet. And petrified. I took the bus with her, and we went to the library together. On the bus home I told her, “you know, if you’re with a friend it’ll be harder for them to find you.” She put her head on my shoulder. “I hope so. I hope so.”
Terry Brewer, Author 