1012 Chapter 197- Epilogue 8 (VOLUME 5)
Different Than the Others
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Zaley
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Things had been different at home for a little bit. Mom and Dad had left, and so did Tally. I missed her a lot while she was gone. I missed Mom and Dad too, but Tally was one of the few that talked to me about what happens to me all the time. She was someone that was there for me when I needed her. But then all of a sudden she wasn’t there.
I get picked on a lot. That is just something that I had started to consider as normal. And I knew why it happened. There was no mystery behind it. It was the way that I looked. I was different from most of the others. And not just different, but I was reborn. Sort of.
I had the soul of my grandfather, Edmond, inside of me. He was a bad man when he was alive, but my mom tells me that he saved us all from a very bad lady after he died. It happened while she was pregnant with me, Zachary, Zander and Zayden. Grandfather Edmond was already dead at that point, but she was in the underworld. And while she was there, she came across his prison cell in the worst part of the torturous place. He had endured his punishments though. And he had changed quite a bit.
It wasn’t Grandfather Edmond’s soul that was bad. It was how he had been raised. Mom told me a little about that as well. I knew more than my brothers did, since I was his second chance at life, but she didn’t tell me everything. I knew that his parents weren’t nice to him. He had a bad lady whispering bad things in his head all the time. And other people that he met did bad things. The way that I see it, he never had a chance to be good. Not one.
I am not a bad person. And I would never hurt anyone. But I get told that I am evil all the time. I get told that I should just kill myself now before I can kill anyone else. The boys who had family members die at the hands of my Grandfather tell me all the time that they will be the ones to kill me the minute that I go bad.
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My life isn’t that happy. At least it isn’t when I am away from home. School is miserable and I hate going, but I don’t tell my parents this. I don’t tell them what happens to me. They wouldn’t understand. And they would just get mad at the people that hurt me. They are scared people. I know that. And they don’t need to be scared even more. They need to be helped, I just don’t know how to help them.
When I am at home it means that I am not being bullied. I don’t have to worry about anything at all, and I am happy there. I smile. I laugh. I play. I am me. When I am at school, I close myself off. I don’t have friends. I don’t talk to anyone at all. And that is fine with me. At least most of the time it is.
I had gotten my brothers in trouble recently, and that made it to where my grandparents, Móraí, Nona, Lola and Papa, all knew what was going on with me. And I knew that they were going to tell my parents. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hide it for much longer.
I had been back in school for two days now, not that many people noticed that I was gone from there, and I was just waiting for things to settle down since the battle. That would be when my parents yelled at me for not telling them the truth about school. About not having any friends.
“Hi, there.” I heard a soft and friendly voice next to me. “You’re back. I was scared that something happened while you were out.” I looked next to me and saw the new girl, Breanna.
“O..oh, uhm, I came back yesterday.” I told her.
“Oh, that’s nice. I was out yesterday because my family went on a trip. I am glad that you’re back now though.” She was smiling at me and looking as if she was as calm as she could be.
“You are?” I tilted my head at her. “Wh..why?”
“Well, you seem to be interesting. I wanted to be your friend. Most people ignore me because I am new. And a lot of idiots ignore you as well. I think you look cool, and your hair is awesome.”
“Y..you think so?” She was giving me an expression that was envious for some reason.
“Yeah. My dad makes me wear a wig when I am at school and in public. I am a Fae.” She smiled at me, and I finally had the smell click in my head. She reminded me of the scent that Aunt Glory had.
“Why do you wear a wig?” I looked confused.
“Well, it probably wouldn’t be that big of a deal at school, but in the city it would. My hair is bright pink. And that isn’t normal. A lot of people in the cities look at my parents like they are criminals or something. They think that they dyed my hair. I hate the wig, and I can’t wait until I am old enough to be able to ‘dye my hair’.” She giggled at me. “Once that time comes, I can go without the wig unless I want to blend in. This thing itches like crazy.”
“Oh, I never thought about wearing a wig. I guess my parents just thought that the albino angle was the best way to go.” I couldn’t help the smile that was on my face. This was the first time that I had been to school in a long time that I had smiled, laughed, and enjoyed myself. And it had only been a few minutes of conversation.
“Yeah, that is actually better. These things suck.” She tugged on the brown hair that hung near her shoulder. “I want to get rid of it as soon as I can.” She shook her head. “By the way, my name is Breanna Applebloom.” She held a hand out to me.
“I know. I have heard your name. I am Zaley Gray.”
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“Daughter of the King and Queen. Yeah, I know you too. I think you’re awesome, Zaley. And I really do mean it when I say that I wanted to be your friend.”
She was giving me a look that was completely open and friendly. And from the way that she smelled, I knew that she wasn’t a threat or anything like that. She would be my only friend if I said yes, and that made me even more nervous. Instead of answering her right away, I just lowered my head.
“Zaley? Is something wrong?” She tilted her head, wondering why I hadn’t answered her. “O..oh, y..you don’t want to be my friend, do you?” She looked hurt now. I could tell that it had taken a lot for her to get up the courage to ask me to be her friend. She was a lot like me. Shy because she was different.
“No, it’s not that.” I stopped her from getting up with a rush of words.
“Then what is it?” She looked a little on guard as she sat back down in her chair.
“Well, it uhm, it’s because I don’t have any friends. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if I would be a good friend or not.”
“Ha ha ha. Don’t worry about that, Zaley. All you need to do is be you. We can hang out and play games. We can play together. There isn’t just one way to be friends. There are a lot of ways. And well, I don’t have any friends here either. So, we will be helping each other out here.”
“Y..yeah.” I nodded at her. “I guess that would be good. I would like to have you as a friend.” And I really would. She was nice, I could tell. And I knew that Zachary, Zander and Zayden would all be happy if I managed to get a friend. Then I wouldn’t be alone all the time. My friend would be there with me when someone tried to pick on me. And then I wouldn’t feel so lonely anymore.
“So, you want to be my friend?” She confirmed it with me. “Really?”
“Yeah, I do. I want to be your friend, Breanna, thank you.” I didn’t know what to do now, but Breanna seemed to. She threw her arms around my shoulders and hugged me tightly. “Yay! I have a new friend. Thank you, Zaley.”
“Eww. You’re friends with that murderer?” Billy Arman said as he turned in his seat. “You’re both creepy weirdos.”
“Really? Well, I happen to like being a weirdo.” I saw Breanna’s eyes start to glow. She was Fae, and that meant she had magic. And she was using it to threaten Billy. “So keep your opinion to yourself, moron. No one wants to hear it.” I saw the flash of fear in Billy’s eyes and watched him spin around in his chair like he was on a rollercoaster or something. It was so fast that it was dizzying.
“I think we are going to be good friends, Breanna.” I said as I looked at her. “Really good friends.”
“Of course.” She smiled and bumped her shoulder against mine. “I hate idiots as much as you do. We’re a match made in heaven.” We both laughed as the teacher came into the classroom. It was time to start learning.