The schizophrenic Rebels

There he was. Standing in the shadows of the room. He was the first new kid at McKinley High School in years. I had the perfect view of him from where I was sitting, eating my lunch. My eyes swept over his lean, muscular body. His hair was slicked back as if he stepped out of the movie Grease. He had a leather jacket even though it was 15 degrees outside. It blended with the faded black tee he wore.
“Alice! Earth to Alice!” said my friend Meggie, snapping her fingers in front of my face.
I looked over at her as the boy on the other side of the room looked at me. For the split second that we made eye contact, it felt like he reached in and knew my every secret. Even though I looked at Meggie as she went on about herself, like every other conversation we have, I still saw those black eyes in my mind. I looked back to see him one last time but he was gone. The shadows were empty.
“I’m going to class,” I mumbled to my friend in the middle of her rant. She looked sad and deflated as I got up and walked out of the lunch room.
As soon as I stepped out into the hallway, I was swept into the sea of students, blending in. I didn’t do sports so I wasn’t a jock. I didn’t look like Barbie so I wasn’t a cheerleader. So I’m a no body. I drifted from class to class in a blur, burying my head into my battered old books between classes and sometimes during. I was reading one of my books that was falling about when something solid hit me. I was the last one in the hall, (late for class again, my dad is going to kill me), and so somebody wanted my attention. The question was who wanted my attention.
With the impact I dropped my books and they scattered everywhere. “Watch wh-,” I stuttered angrily before I realized who I was talking to. It was the new kid. He was taller and paler now that he was standing right in front of me. Now that he was closer I could see flecks of gold in his eyes. I looked away when I realized that I was staring.
He chuckled, (at least I thought he did,) and bent down pick up my forgotten books. Why wasn’t he in class?
As I bent down he asked, “How many books are you reading?” as he held four of my novels in one hand as he looked at the one I was distracted with. “Harry Potter eh? I love this series.”
My breath caught. ‘No, you don’t have time to fangirl. Don’t fangirl.’ He laughed again at the expression on my face. I could feel the heat rise to my face.
He flashed me a smile that showed white, straight teeth. They looked like little pearls. He leaned up against a row of lockers. A clump of hair fell down and covered his beautiful eyes.
Why is he here? With me? I’m a no body and yet, he’s here with me.
“Um, I’m trying not to be rude or anything, but why are you talking to me?” He flashed another smile and said, “I want to talk to you. You seem like the person to talk to. You aren’t like the other wanna-bes at this sorry – excuse of a school.”
I shifted my feet as I tried to process the words that came out of his mouth. I tried to speak but words failed me.
“Have you ever thought about the true meaning of life?” the stranger asked. He got off the lockers and took my bag out of my hands. He motioned his head for me to follow him.
“Wh - what do you mean?” I stuttered. The halls were quiet and I hoped that a teacher wouldn’t come out and bust us.
“Well have you ever thought why we are here? Alive.” I must have had a puzzled look on my face because he started laughing. “I always ask myself, ‘Why are we here on earth, for what purpose? To make us into the cookie-cutter factory worker. Life to them is being born, go to school, go to work and die.”
“What if we could change that?” I squeaked.
“Now you’re talking!”
I keep going. “What if we change the ways of what people see. We could do the impossible.”
He jumps up and down laughing. He stops and turns to me. “See, I knew there was something different about you. You know how to live.”
We stopped walking. It wasn’t until we stopped I realized where we were. The school was far behind us and now we were standing in the forest that surrounded the town.
“So I’m guessing that we aren’t going back to class?”
“Nope, school teaches us nothing. You really think about what means to you the most and you learn the secrets of life when you aren’t in a stuffy room.” His tone was dark and slow.
A part of me was scared and worried for what he was planning on doing. He hasn’t even told me his name. Another part of me wanted to stay and hear what he had to say. I could tell he was one of those people who never go to school and doesn’t get along with cops. But what he had to say was interesting.
I walk up to him slowly and I move my sleeve of my over – sized sweater up so I can stick out my hand. “I’m Alice.” Maybe I just need to introduce myself first. He stared at my hand and for a split second I thought I saw something change. I think I saw someone confused and he didn’t know what to do. That second was over and he shone another smile.
“Well Alice, it’s nice to meet you. I am David.” He took my cold hand into his own. He held it there.
“So David, what else can you tell my about the wonders of life?” He let go of my hand and we could hear the bell of the high school signaling that the school day is over. How long have we been here? The overcast of the trees and branches made the forest floor darker than what it really was.
“Well my dear Alice, the wonders of life, you would think to be normally places. Well I say it would be the facts about the truth and human behaviour.” He said with a horrible British accent. A giggle escaped and he gave me a look and smiled. “It would be things like ‘We stop looking for monsters from under our beds once we realized they are inside of us.’”
The words stopped me. I understood what he was saying and what the words meant. It was like something snapped inside me.
“David, why did you bring me here? What is your real reason for talking to me?”
“It’s like I said, I know you are different. You are like me. You think about things that should be on anyone’s mind. I came here to find you.”
Find me? I was nothing special, just a no body that went un-noticed. “You came here for me? Why?”
“You are what people call ‘rebels’ because you don’t like to be told. It is only noticed by the late teen years. You might think ‘Yeah almost every teen rebel’ but not you. They rebel against their parents, but people like you and I rebel against life.”
“How do you know this?”
“Have you ever laid there in bed, asking questions about why things are the way they are? Have you ever questioned why we do things that are supposedly the way of life?”
Know this was getting creepy. It was as if he watched my in my mind, reading my thoughts. His eye searched my face for anything that might help him. He walked over to me and his face was pale under the moon light. It was hours ago that the moon rose up into the sky. It was like time was speeding up when I was with him. Oh my dad is going to kill me.
“So what do you do know, that you found me?” I gazed up at his strong face. An evil like smirk shone and he said, “We rebel.”
I must have looked puzzled because his smile grew bigger. “Alice, we together, can change the ways of life if we stick together.”
“How do we change it?”
“By asking life’s hardest questions. It doesn’t even have to be sane, just look at me! I can’t be called sane because doctors found out that I have schizophrenia.”
The word schizophrenia hit me like a Mac truck. I thought I was the only one….
“Nope, you are not the only one Alice, why do you think you haven’t taken your meds the last couple weeks? You now know you don’t need them. The voices and hallucinations are a gift. A wonderful gift that only a few people have.”
I always knew something wasn’t right. My dad knew it too. I felt my blood boil as the anger towards him grew. I knew not to take my meds. ‘Listen to him Alice, the rest of the world are liars, and he is here to help you.’ I think I can trust him. I would be very disappointed if he lied to me like everyone else. I know my books and stories don’t lie to me. It all makes sense to me.
“David, can you take me away from this place? Please? I can’t be here anymore. There are people here who are controlling me.” He moved his hand to my face and brushed a lock of my hair and tucked it behind my ear. My baggy sweater was my only source of heat and my yoga pants really weren’t helping either.
“I can take you away from here, far away.” I smiled at these words and I knew I would be safe.
“David, let me ask you something?” I asked as we started our journey away from the town that hid my gift. “Do you think God stay’s in heaven because He too is afraid of what He created?”