The Something And Its Girl

• Lottie Berinson, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2020

The something came- as most somethings do- in the dead of night. When the sky was a sea of perpetual darkness. When for a second, just a second the world was quiet. Its skin was cold, its heart was warm. And like all somethings, it didn’t know what it was. A thing that wasn’t a thing. Blending into the background unseen. And sometimes, if something isn’t seen for so long, it begins to fade away.

The something existed along with everyone else, an invisible unnoticed creature that had almost forgotten the yearning to be seen, to be understood. After such a long time the something gave up on being anything more. And slowly, ever so slowly the last remnants of the something, the final embers of the fire that had burned so brightly inside of it began to flicker out.

Until it saw her.

Her nose was buried in a book. Her hair was a tangle of dark curls. Her shoulders were slumped and her body was rigid, squeezing itself smaller and smaller. She tried to make herself invisible, fading into the background as if she wasn’t truly there. She tried to make herself unnoticeable in the crowded train station, tried to blend in.

But the something noticed her.

The something followed her. Through the crowded station and onto the train. The something watched her as she squeezed herself as tight as she could into her seat. Watched as around her others talked, others smiled. And as the something watched her she seemed to brighten ever so slightly. As the something saw her, the embers buried so deep inside of her began to flicker.

As she walked into the school the something felt the clenching in her chest, the beating of her heart, the twist in the pit of her stomach as if it was its own. It watched her as she sat alone in the back of her classroom. Saw the pointed fingers, the whispers behind closed hands. The something saw her rigid back, saw the tear. But that’s not all it saw. The something saw what no one else did. It saw the clenching of her fists, the yearning, the fire that burnt so brightly inside of her. And when the something looked at her it felt the fire inside of it, the fire that it thought had long since blown out. And so the something did what it never thought it would.

The something took a step towards the girl. Another.

“I see you.” It whispered.

The girl looked up. Their eyes connected. The something saw itself in her eyes, and for the first time it didn’t just see nothingness. For the first time, someone truly saw it.

“I see you, too.”

The girl reached out her hand and the something took it. Her shoulders went back, her eyes left the desk. At the next insult the girl looked straight at the speaker.

And at long last the something knew what it was here to do.