Nobody

She's nobody!
Kids file onto the lawn, running and shouting. Groups of giggling students huddle together, whispering as a group. Everyone seems happy, telling jokes and gossip, showing off.
One girl sits alone, dull brown hair hiding her face. She wears plain blue jeans and a long sleeved navy blue shirt. She is reading a book.
The new girl, Sarah, walks up. She'll try to make friends with this girl. She doesn't know anyone here yet, and the girl doesn't look mean if not particularly interesting either. Another face in the crowd, but she could be a friend. Just as she nears the wall where the girl sits, a group of laughing, friendly faces walks up.
"Hi, um...Sarah?" One asks. She smiles.
"Yeah. Hi."
"My name's Kelly. This is Miranda, and this is Allison. You're from Ohio, right?"
"Yes. Yaleton. Middle of nowhere."
"That's where I come from. Middle of nowhere." Allison says. "Maine."
"Wow, that's even worse than Ohio." said Sarah. "Sorry."
The other three laugh. They move away, chatting aimlessly. It is not until several minutes later when they pause at the fence that Sarah remembers the other girl.
"Who's that girl on the bench?"
"I don't know...lemme think. I don't remember. Don't know her."
"I see her alot, or kids like her. There's a couple in this school. They're quiet, bookworms, no friends. Never talk, nobody talks to them." added Miranda.
"So you don't know who she is?"
"She's nobody, that's who." Said Allison. They laugh and walk away. None of them look back. None of them see a flash of what could be longing on the girl's dispassionate face.


Broken wings
The street is terribly gray, terribly bleak. She's walked it so many times. No one walks beiside her. The rain pours all over her, soaking her clothes so they're heavy. She splashes through muddy puddles, oblivious of her surroundings.
She should have listened. She should have used her common sense. But she didn't. She ruined it all.
Tears flood her eyes, running to her cheeks and mixing with the rain. If only she could go back and do it again. She can't! She's had so many chances.
Three years ago, she was Miss Priss. Perfect, smart, everything. Her parents would use her as an example. "Why can't you be more like Gracie?"
They never said that anymore.
She'd known all about drugs. D.A.R.E. The facts. Poison, addiction, everything. Books, given to kids her age to teach. To tell. If only she'd listened. Go Ask Alice. The front of the book, worn from so many readings.
Sugar & Spice & Everything Nice.
Acid & Smack & No Way Back.
She'd thought they'd exagerated. But it was true. There was no way back. No way.
She wanted an exciting, colorful life. Something besides the dull rules and drab childhood her parents offered.
She didn't want to go home.
She paused beneath a window. Someone was blaring their radio. A song she'd heard, she knew.
Without realizing what she was doing, she started singing along with the music.
"There's a whole lotta singing never gonna be heard, disappearing every day without so much as a word, somehow.
"Think I broke the wings off that little songbird, she's never gonna fly to the top of the world, right now."
That's where she would've gone, too.


I met myself the other day
At a small brown house in a plain, boring neighborhood sat Nobody. A short, nondescript gray wall circled her house. She was perched on the edge, blending easily in with the dull surroundings. A book was in her hands, as usual. She seemed absorbed in it.
Another girl stumbled to the wall, tears streaming down her face. Although the water that soaked her clothes must have been from the recent rain showers, it looked as though she had cried several rivers onto them. She pulled herself onto the wall and sat beside the other. After a few minutes of silence, she spoke.
"What are you reading?" It looked as though the other was going to ignore her, but then she turned the book slowly to the side so the title showed. The Secret Garden.
"I've read that. When I was about ten. Don't read anymore."
The girl looked up with solemn eyes that seemed to see right through you. They didn't belong to Nobody. They belonged to a secret, tortured soul.
"Did you like it?" the girl asked. The words, which would be exactly what you'd expect to be asked, were unnatural coming from her mouth.
"It was good." said the other one quietly. Nobody slid off the wall into the yard behind. After a minute she turned around, waiting for something.
"Who are you?"
"Page 226." The door closed with a soft click. The other girl shrugged and climbed back down onto the street. Her foot landed on a book. She was sure it hadn't been there when she'd arrived. She picked it up and clenched it to her chest. Then she rushed toward home without a backward glance.


Touched by an angel?
It was a book of poetry. A collection of random poems. She flipped to page 226 and started reading.

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody -- too?
Then there's a pair of us? Don't tell!
They'd advertise, you know!

There was more, but she didn't read it. She picked up a CD and played it. She sang along.
"Everybody's singing we just wanna be heard, disappearing everyday without so much as a word, somehow.
"Wanna grab ahold of that little songbird, take her for a ride to the top of the world, right now."
She could. She would. First she just needed to mend the wings.

Later that day Grace Albert walked into the kitchen with a smile on her face, the first true smile in over three years. She walked up to her mother and hugged her. "I love you, Mom."
Her mother smiled softly. They sat there in silence. Eventually her mother went to cook dinner and Grace did her first homework assignment since fifth grade.

The next day after school she walked to the house again. She knocked on the door. Nobody answered. A woman was walking by with a baby carriage.
"Nobody lives there, you know."
Grace nodded. When the woman left, she crouched by the gray wall and took the book from her bag. She placed it softly on the ground. She hesitated, then dropped something else out and dropped it on top before leaving.
It was a CD.