Sierra

"Can you see him?" Selena asks me.

"I don't know. I really don't care."

"But he's so hot!"

"Who cares?"

"I do."

What is wrong with her? I wonder. He's a freak. I look at his jet-black hair and red painted lips. He's a guy for crying out loud! Guys aren't supposed to wear lipstick! I think back to the term Selena used for him. Emo. What an ugly word.

"Oh look! He turned around! And he’s walking towards us!" She puts her hand up to her forehead in a fainting gesture. I roll my eyes. I have got to get new friends.

The Freak brushes past me and whispers, "Yes, you do."

Stunned, I look over to Selena. I hadn't meant to talk out loud, and if she heard me, she'd be crushed. And she had to of heard me- she was standing right next to me.

"I didn't mean it..."

But she's fine. Her face is flushed with excitement because The Freak actually walked by me.

"Didn't mean what?" she asks me. She seems confused.

"Nothing...just...never mind. I was just thinking out loud."

"Yeah, whatever. But anyway, did you see the way he looked at you? And he talked to you! What did he say?"

Uh-oh.

"Ummm, he said that my friend was hot."

"WHAT?"

"He said you were hot. It's really not that big a deal."

"Yes it is! You aren't lying to me, are you? I mean, did he really..."

Then he speaks to me again. IN MY HEAD.

"You lie."

I look around, trying to see if someone else had just whispered as they walked past, but nobody I know is around us.

Where are you? Who talked to me? I wonder to myself, straining my eyes.

“It’s Justin. You call me The Freak though.”

“H…how…how are we talking in my… head?”

"We're not. We're in The Arena. Look around."

Suddenly, it's as if I'm seeing through someone else's eyes. It is dark, and there is no ground. Far off into the distance, I can see The Freak.

"Where are we?" I know I sound panicked, but what can anyone do about that? Here I am, floating around in the middle of the air, and I’m stuck here with The Freak. And I have no idea where I am.

"The Arena."

"What is The Arena?"

"The Arena is a level of existence where all living creatures can communicate."

I look around, amazed, confused.

After a short pause, "So we can talk to all living creatures? Even bugs and animals?"

"Yes. Even bugs and animals."

"What about, well, plants?"

"Yes, plants are included as well. Anything and everything that is alive is included."

Wow. I’m quiet again for a few minutes, just looking around, trying to figure out what kind of place this is. I see The Freak moving, so I try to move as well, but it’s as if I were paralyzed standing up. I get a sensation of burning and scream, dropping to the ground. I cannot feel myself anymore. The only thing I can feel is pain. It envelops my body, and I wrack with sobbed-choked screams.

Oh God, save me. Am I going to die?

“Stop trying to move!” The Freak screams, obviously as scared as I am. “Stop! It’s going to kill you!”

At first I could not comprehend him, but the more he talked, the more I listened, and gradually let my muscles relax.

“Oh my God, Sierra! Are you okay?”

He rushes over to me and sits by my side. He picks me up for a minute and I instantly feel better.

But then he puts me down and steps away from me. His eyes narrow. Somehow I get the feeling that he’s mad at me.

"Your friend is concerned about you. Go back to her."

"How?"

"Just simply will it."

So I do. But nothing happens.

"I can't go. Why can't I go?"

But The Freak is gone.

The Freak

I never really thought that she'd be able to reach The Arena, but here she is. I had thought that she was much too human to reach it, but aren't we all?

Now she is asking me how to leave The Arena.

"Just simply will it," I tell her. And then I leave.

When I reach the First Plane, Earth, Sierra is just standing there, her body vacant. While I had been able to see her friend, I had not realized how panicked her friend was.

She probably thinks she's dying or something. She'll have to learn to carry her body into The Arena with her spirit. I can't believe she told her friend that I thought she was hot.

Then I noticed that that Sierra was still in The Arena.

Serves her right.

But it's dangerous to be in there too long.

I don't want to save someone that calls me The Freak. She’s the freak. I saved her life just now, and she’s still going to call me a freak. I should let her stay in there.

It's wrong to leave her in there.

I don't care.

She needs help.

But the only way to help her is to hold her and carry her out.

Oh well.

I don’t know what to think after that, so I do what my conscience tells me.

I walk over to her and wrap my arms around her to her friend's disbelieving face. Instantly, I am back in The Arena. Sierra looks surprised that I am here, holding her. I am only there for a moment before we are back out on the First Plane.

Back there, Sierra blinks and then raises her eyes to mine. As much as I hate to admit it, she really is beautiful.

Did I really just think that?

"Thanks," she whispers.

"You'll learn," I tell her. “But don’t ever call me a freak again.”