Alone?

I was once new here. But now the true setting of Foresta had grown on me, I felt like I was growing on it too. I had met a few people, but all of them accepted me! Crazy to think that back home I was the outcast and was ignored. I hadn't explored the grounds to much lately, being busy with school work.

But the weather was nice, kind of. I had long since taken off my socks and shoes and was sitting on the beach. The waves caressing my toes and my heals.

I was crouched over, head on my knees and my arms wrapped protectively around my legs. I must had takes up very little space in this form, probably making people eyes wonder right over my small body. But I didn't mind, hearing no one other thoughts was nice, and quiet.

I hated hearing the thoughts, I wanted to forget it but that only made the memory more remembered. How horrible how things like that go. But most of all I missed having a protective arm around my shoulder, one that didn't think I was crazy and needed to go.

One that might understand the feeling of being alone.

Margaret held a tight grasp on her hairless forehead in an attempt to soothe the pain of her retched migraine. This was not the first headache she has had this month and in fact it almost felt like a continuous cycle day in and day out. She truly had no definite answer for the cause of this chronic problem, but she had her suspicions. It could have easily been the slow growing tumor in her head, but it had been there for many years why would it torment her now? Perhaps it was fully developed, but other side effects would have caught her attention before now so it seemed unlikely. It was rather that or she was subconsciously ignoring that as a fact.

Margaret’s head was fogged up from her intense pain and the smallest of noises felt like a pinch on her brain. Her remedy to this was to find somewhere peaceful and quiet. Somewhere in her mind she had connected beach with calming silence. Then again she could easily make that assumption since no one was ever really outside of the school campus. Some say they were too afraid of what could be lurking in the bushes of this island. She never believed in rumours.

One would ask why she didn’t just stay within her own dorm if she wanted to keep to herself. Well she couldn’t since her dorm room was still being rebuilt from the unfortunate lab accident that took place a while back. The memories of that day still haunted her, but she chose to ignore them since they only brought her misery.

Finally Margaret wandered upon the gentle sand of the shore. She wore shoes, but she could still feel her feet slowly sink into the ground below her. To any other person they could only see feet imprints being made onto the soft ground. This was because she was not visible at the time. She released her cloaking ability since it was putting extra strain onto her mind and the sooner she could let that go the better.

She released all tension in her body so that she could relax, but she noticed that she was not alone on the beachfront. She wasn’t sure if she was relieved by the sight of another person or peeved that she had come all this way only for failure. She tried to store away her negative thoughts since becoming a better person was now a part of her philosophy. She wanted to be more polite and less aggressive so she approached the other woman and sat on the ground next to her. “You mind if I join you?” she asked in a bittersweet tone.

Margaret thought that a little socializing could do her some good.

I hear the crunching of sand, but when looking back I see no one at first. Then I see another person walking towards me. At first I shrink, closing up all the gaps between my body. Then I see her face, calm and relaxed. I quickly look away, mostly away from her eyes. Her thoughts. I could control her mind and make her go away, but I don't. I haven't done that in a long time, because of what I almost did to mom.

Her voice was soft, kind and lonely. Like me maybe. I slightly open up, letting my arms loosen up a bit. I look at her hair, avoiding eye contact as much as possible. I listen as she speaks.

Then I reply, "Yea, I guess I need someone to talk to. Its been so lonely around here lately. Its not just me, is it? Its gone quiet here."

I look behind her, hoping that she thinks the same. Or else she might make me feel a little bit crazy.

Margaret adjusted her seating position so that she sat on her right leg and had her left folded against her shoulder. She had the hand attach to her arm on the opposite side of her body, which was partially hidden from the other person, gently massaging her temple and trying not to attract too much attention to it. It did not completely ease the pain, but it was the most effective method she really knew of.

She was glad that the stranger had accepted her to join, but the break in her countenance wasn’t too much. It was basically a transition from apathy to a slight smile that hardly raised her lips. Now that she was under the company of another she wasn’t entirely sure of where to go from there. She listened to the topic of conversation and didn’t truly think too much of it.

“I couldn’t tell you if it has, I don’t know too many people around here, though I am hearing about less and less each day. Perhaps people are focusing more on their studies instead of doing some crazy antics?” She explained quite dully. “Personally though I’m completely fine with the silence because when things get loud around here it usually doesn’t indicate anything good” she stated dropping her tone in midsentence by the mere memory of that putrid fire she had started nearly half a year ago.

Margaret stared off into the ocean for a brief moment while she began to construct an image of a future where she hadn’t been so clumsy. She had emotionally surpassed that event, but that did not mean she still didn’t think about it. She quickly packed that back into the back of her mind and returned her attention back onto the other person, hoping that she hadn’t noticed her few second hiatus.

The silence wasn't unnerving, but it was to normal around here. She wanted noise, music and memories to be made. Something to remember for the rest of her life here. This place needed to change some how. But being so lonely and quiet wouldn't help Foresta.

Looking at her new found friend she decided to bring up the topic. Hoping that she wouldn't run or tell on her strange ways.

"I've been thinking, this school might need change. The way it is already might be setting it up for destruction. I haven't seen people on the grounds in weeks, other than you this place seems abandoned," taking a deep breath " I think since there is no one to enforce the rules here, that we could do whatever we wanted to. Its crazy, but I guess I'm a little bit bored right now. Crazy would suit me."

Margaret was intrigued by what this new topic of conversation implied. A little excitement could be a welcome change to her, but her pounding headache restricted her from embracing the other person’s proposal right away. Considering that she was searching for new things to try in her seemingly quiet and dull life she didn’t exactly oppose the idea of the other girl’s.

“I don’t exactly think badly of your idea, but what would this crazy act entail?” She asked with her general interest lingering within her tone. The woman was precisely right; this place wasn’t trapped within any sort of rules. In fact Margaret blew up a section of the school with little negative repercussions by the higher authorities, but that may be because no one had really pinpointed it onto her just yet.

I gleamed with joy. She didn't think my idea was crazy after all, but there was the thought in the back of my mind that things could take a wrong turn. But I pushed aside the silly thought.

How wasn't really the question I worried about, it was more of a who thing. Who would be there to stop us, or to tell us we had gone to far? Who would be there to catch us if we fell. And what of the other people who attended the school? I hadn't seen anyone lately and it looked like she hadn't either. But our reasons were most likely very different.

Clearing my throat I say softly, "I think that if we did take over the school some how, we would need someone who would know our limits. To stop us if we got out of hand. So we didn't do something foolish without thought."

Looking up at her face (not her eyes of course) I see pain, I may not be a emotion reader but I saw her fingers gently soothing over her temple. I noticed the small things in people, maybe its because I never meet their eyes.

Making a small sound out of relief I pull out an ibuprofen and hand the bottle over to her. I use it when I hear to many thoughts at once, the pain usually goes away quickly. I hope it works for her too.

"Before I continue on telling you how I plan to take over the school, I'd like you to know my name. I'm Oki Nariko."

Margaret’s head turned over to the woman she had been speaking to. After she explained what it was she wanted to get Margaret involved with, she conveyed a strangely befuddled expression on her face. ‘Take over the school?’ she oddly wondered within the confines of her mind. She thought that was a peculiar ambition to take and there were many different ways that she had interpreted that statement. Was it a joke? She supposed not due to the seriousness of her tone, she seemed young so perhaps she was just overly foolish. Foolish was the best way Margaret could state it without being too overly offensive.

“What exactly do you mean by ‘take over the school’? You mean in the sense of overthrowing the teachers in a hostile takeover? Or in the way that cliques takeover the social scene. Because I’m only willing to follow you through one of those two” she questioned with a mixture of sarcasm and sincerity. She didn’t truly believe that either of these suggestions were what the girl had meant, but she thought it would be highly entertaining if they were.

Margaret ceased her self-massage once she saw that the other woman had handed her a bottle of headache eradicators in pill form. One would normally question why this was a regular item that any person would carry on them at all times, but it did not bother her mind nearly as much as the migraine did. She quickly took possession of the small bottle and downed a couple pills due to the amount of pain it gave off. Overall she knew how much she took now would not matter in the grand scheme of things because it would return in a mere eight hours at full strength. She dreaded that time period, but was thankful she could enjoy some time free from the mental vice.

She caressed her hairless scalp in relief. “Much better. I’m Margaret by the way” she stated with a sigh interlaced with her calm speak. She purposefully did not mention her surname due to her hatred of being connected to the word.

With a small smile she chuckles.

"I don't think I'm crazy enough to be hostile to a teacher."

She almost laughs, she must think its strange for a young woman to be thinking like this. But she knows if she loses this friend she might become alone again. Shaking her head mentally she thinks this through.

With few people to stop them, they wouldn't need to kill or hurt. Just maybe do what ever they felt like doing. That shouldn't hurt anyone. The total control idea was insane, so she pushed it out of the way. So was hurting anyone, or anything. Big no no.

Holding her head in her hands she thought this over and over. letting out a small laugh she looked towards Margaret and smiles warmly.

"Maybe I need to think this plan out a bit more"

Laughing came naturally to her, so she did. And it felt amazing, she hadn't laughed like this in a while. So she kept laughing.

Margaret gazed at Oki as she oddly began to giggle. It seemed a bit psychotic to her, but she could sort of understand what she found to be funny. Perhaps Margaret was more comedic than she had realized, but that didn’t seem entirely likely to her. Then again she never really found her own humour to be all that funny.

“Yeah, you probably should think it over” she stated trying her best not to spice up her tone with bitterness. A bitter come back was usually how she communicated with people, but that seemed to drive most off so she found it better to try and hold herself back in social confrontation. Sometimes it was easier to do than others.

Margaret stretched out her legs in the sand and continued to bring her body upright until she was standing again. She fixated her vision down at the folded little ball of her new possible acquaintance. She wasn’t entirely sure of what to title her as of now, but possible acquaintance could be accurate enough. She tossed down the pill bottle that she received earlier to return it back to its owner.

“Come on, we’re wasting time here. We can walk and talk to figure out what it is we plan on doing.” She commanded blankly with a small touch of a smirk. Time was one thing she did not have and letting it go to waste was not a thing she generally enjoyed to do.

Catching the pills in my left hand I push off the sand with my right. Shoving the small bottle into my pocket I stand there for a moment, the view is amazing. Right now it could look better, but I know the sky will change and so will its colors.

I turn and begin to walk up the beach with Margaret, still thinking about my little plan. I play with the bottle in my pocket and focus.

No one to stop us, no one to care and no rules. There was nothing to do to take "control" or the school. It was already for the taking, in a way.

Lifting my head I let out a sigh. Who knew this would be so confusing!

This was an unusual sight, Margaret casually socializing with another person. She had expressed many times before this one that she had despised idle chit-chat. Then again this Margaret was also a quite different one. This was an ongoing thought within her head every time she became involved with a situation such as this. It was strange for her to think of how she had changed, but it seemed as though she had become obsessed with comparing her current self with her old self.

Margaret shook her head trying to keep those thoughts out of her head. She hated to reflect on old events, but her brain seemed to be thoroughly interested in it. She had to get her mind to focus elsewhere so that old memories could stop flowing through her head.

She had another person to speak to, so she figured why not occupy her brain with her. “So, have you met any interesting students on the campus?” Margaret questioned in attempt to work up a conversation. She felt it was the best improvised question she could come up with in a short span of time.

During their walk on the shoreline Margaret heard a slight click originating from her knee. That was only another thing to remind her of past actions. It didn’t particularly hurt and it was now only a rare occurrence that came up every so often. It meant the chafing of her leg bones, but it would only cause long term damages. Long term was not something she concerned herself with. She continued her walk though as if nothing had happened.

Laughing at the silly question she replied,

"Well there are all kinds of interesting people here, isn't that the reason it was built?

The ground here was changing from the soft sand to the rock filled dirt. Pulling on her shoes one by one she hopped around like a one-footed rabbit.

Being so observant she noted that Margret had headaches much like herself, she kept to herself and was an off putting person. But she still didn't know what unique ability had brought her here to Foresta.

Pressing on she watched the world change around her, much like the day she first came here. The colors had been overwhelming at first, but soon she saw each color for its own. Understanding why it was what it was.

Maybe that's another reason she was so observant. She wanted to understand.

Margaret attempt at small talk seemed to have failed. Perhaps it was due to the fact she had little to no communication skills toward things that didn’t really matter. She pinned the failure onto the other person’s misinterpret of her original question, which was asking if she had met anyone interesting, not if there was anyone interesting. Misinterpretation was a large pet peeve of hers and she tried to refrain from out bursting at Oki for mishearing her. She attempted to push that to the back of her mind and forcibly tried to stop her brows from furrowing. Being polite was difficult for her.

Margaret felt the transition from the loose sand to solid rock. She much preferred the rock since one would be able to get more grip onto of its surface more so than sand. She barely noticed the other woman’s change in foot wear since she was too occupied trying to keep her anger in control.

Margaret decided to change the topic of conversation since it had gone nowhere and she didn’t feel like repeating herself until she got the correct answer out of the other girl. She was indecisive of the topic though. The first thing that came to her head was to ask what her power was, but that seemed to be a common topic among people who first meet in this school and Margaret hated to be cliché.

“What do you plan on doing once you complete school?” Margaret asked ignoring her previous question. She was not all that confident in the question she had asked due to the fact she truly did not care about this person’s career path.

She couldn't help but notice Margret's frustration when she replied to her first question. She must have given her an answer she didn't like. But there wasn't time to change her answer for Margret threw another question her way. But by the look on her face she didn't care for her answer.

"Margret I know you don't care for my answer, so why do you bother to ask?"

Smiling she added softly, barely above a whisper,

"I may be a mind reader, but sometimes I don't always understand what I hear."