-1“The hardest part of writing anything is getting the first 10 percent onto paper the way you want it,” Mr. Keselowski, a young teacher new to the school, stood at the front of the classroom with a book open and a finger waving around in the air in a non-threatening yet instructive manner, “so don’t get discouraged about starting this project. Even the professionals struggle with organizing their initial thoughts.”

Even with the encouragement, the students groaned to themselves about the upcoming creative writing assignment. Creative writing was hated among most of them as there were so many rules and regulations to follow. It simply just was far from a fun activity, almost being as strict as choir.

The bell rang up and down the halls and in every classroom in the school, alarming a small white moth. Mr. Keselowski looked up at the clock, just as surprised as the moth about the sound that brought sorrow to the teachers who enjoyed their careers but joy to their young cohorts.

“Wow, I can’t believe school is out already…” Keselowski sighed sadly, then looked back to the class and noticed most of them were already packed up and heading out the door. “Don’t forget your rough drafts are due on Monday!” he called out to the fleeing students, fearing he wouldn’t be heard. Seeing no reaction from the evacuating teenagers, he shrugged. “Sometimes I wonder if I’m simply leading them to water but they just don’t want to drink…” he trailed off, noticing that one of his students was still seated at his desk, completely unpacked and writing away at his notebook. It was Taehoon, a quiet and introverted albino boy who never seemed to be interested in his classes.

“Hey, Taehoon. Aren’t you going to go home like everyone else? Class is over and it’s the weekend now…” Keselowski walked over to the boy’s desk, which was located in the second to the last row in the back of the classroom.

Taehoon looked up with his odd reddish pink eyes that he had to peer through his semi-long bangs to see. His hair was a fluffy white, cut a little above the ears but had a very unkempt look to it, indicating his subdued free spirit he kept hidden inside. A scrawny boy with little interest in sports, Taehoon was rather thin and not muscular at all. Slightly smaller than the other 17-year-olds, he would have never been selected for sports anyways, even if he did want to try.

“Huh? Oh… yeah… I guess you’re right…” Taehoon looked down to his notebook and closed it right away, before Mr. Keselowski could have seen what was written there. He then reached down for his backpack and stood up, putting his notebook under his arm and not looking at his instructor. “Sorry I wasn’t paying attention to your class…!” He looked at Keselowski apologetically.

Keselowski smirked. “It’s fine, Taehoon, it really is. I’m not going anywhere soon. Got papers to grade, people to call, things to read…” he trailed off then looked back at the boy, who had a blank expression on his face. “But never mind me! I saw you were writing something in your notebook. Did you get started on your assignment already?”

Taehoon raised a brow, not really sure what his teacher was talking about but bit his lip when he realized an assignment was probably given out while he wasn’t paying attention. “Umm… yeah! That’s exactly what I was doing! I just want to get it done early because…. because… we are going to see my grandparents this weekend and I won’t… have… time… to…”

Leaning back on a desk, Keselowski, despite his lack of experience teaching, read Taehoon’s expressions and words like a book and had a strong hunch the boy was likely working on something else. “Is that so? I thought your grandparents were dead.”

Eyes traveling down to his left, Taehoon remembered an assignment a few weeks earlier where he was required to write about his family, but made it up entirely… “Uhh… you must be thinking of my grandparents on the other side of the family!”

“But wasn’t your mother adopted with her parents nowhere to be found?”

The boy’s mind began to work, “As of that last assignment, we didn’t know where they were, but… they recently contacted us so we are about to see them for the first time!” His face lit up, eager. “It’s really a very long story…”

Keselowski held a hand up and grinned to himself. “I think I heard enough,” he chuckled, “Your family definitely is full of interesting stories, Taehoon. Sometimes they’re at the point of being rather unbelievable for this day and age.” He hinted to the boy that he was on to him. “With as well as the government tracks and follows everyone it just makes me wonder how your family can pull a lot of this stuff off.”

Taehoon shifted his weight as he stood, then took a step towards the door to imply he was on his way out. “I’d love to tell you, Mr. Keselowski, but I have a bus to catch! I’ll see you on Monday.”

The observant teacher watched the albino boy every step he took to the door. “Sure thing, Taehoon. Just remember your rough draft for the creative writing project!” he hollered as Taehoon left the room.

A creative writing project! Taehoon thought to himself as he left, I knew that he would tell me what I missed!

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It was a cool fall afternoon and the sun was already low enough to make the shadows long, fingering their darkness across the ground. Within two hours, the darkness would have taken over the visual world and keep it for itself until the coming of dawn.

A light breeze ruffled Taehoon’s hair as he stepped out the front door of the school building, forcing him to look skyward in awe at the infinite heavens above. It was mostly a clear sky, with a few friendly cumulus clouds passively making their way across the sky in the way the wind pushed them. Even as the wind guided the clouds on their paths, Taehoon stayed sedentary, despite his cloud-like hair.

Not being even ten minutes after class got out, the school campus already had an abandoned look about it. There were still a few students hanging around but most of the parking lot was vacated, with the exception of a few cars belonging to a hand full of dutiful teachers. A few scraps of garbage rolled where the wind desired them to go.

This place always seemed to have a wind…

Looking at his watch, Taehoon noted that there was still an hour before his county bus would leave in the direction towards his home, up the canyon a ways and into a small town. It never made sense to Taehoon why the government didn’t allow for schools to be built outside the big cities. There were still students in need of education beyond the city limits, after all. Wouldn’t it be more convenient if small towns were able to have schools, too?

For a fleeting moment, Taehoon considered that perhaps the government was angry with the rural-living people, but he shook his head, thinking that it couldn’t possibly be true. The government loves its people. There must be some other reason behind why schools were only allowed in the big cities…

“Taehoon! Hey!”

Taehoon looked behind him when he heard the familiar, energetic female voice. It was none other than Brenda, one of his friends he’s had since his freshman year at this high school. She was an overachiever, a straight-A honor student and workaholic who put far more work into her schedule than what any real person could accomplish, yet she still somehow managed to do it all.

“Hey, Brenda. What’s up?” Taehoon asked nonchalantly, half-turning to face her. “I’m sorry I didn’t make it to your club meeting today…”

Brenda stopped a few feet away from him and leaned over to catch her breath, then looked up with her serious brown eyes through her somewhat scuffed up glasses. “Ugh, Taehoon. We were one member short of the school allowing us to be an official campus club!” she clenched her fist, growling. “You better be glad that we are getting a second chance!”

Taehoon held up his hands, completely guilty with a nervous smile. “I’m really sorry, honest. It’s just that… I’m not really into computers and databases… If I showed up, then I’d be obligated to stay-”

“Further attendance to the club isn’t required for it to stay in the official club lists around the school, Taehoon! I just need you to show up for one day and THAT’S IT. Is that really too much to ask for? It’s not like you do anything better with your time during lunch break.”

Taehoon let his eyes wonder, trying to remember what it was he did during lunch. A brief flash of an image of him laying under a tree in the courtyard and catching a few Z’s came to mind. “I had a lunch detention, even though I didn’t do anything wrong…” Taehoon started, but was interrupted right away.

“And I’m supposed to believe that how?” Brenda stood up straight and put her hands on her hips. “Taehoon, don’t lie to me. I know you better than that and there’s no way you can trick me.” Then she relaxed with a sigh. “I forgive you, obviously. It’s a stupid thing to get mad at you about.” Brenda looked up at him again with a small smile. “You know, sometimes I wonder if you were really cut out for school.”

“What do you mean? Everyone has to go to school… you know that…” he replied.

“I know, I know. It’s necessary to go to school and get an education to fully contribute what they can to society,” Brenda stated in a rehearsed manner. “But the way you always, I dunno, daydream and how little you seem to care about it… I’m surprised you haven’t been diagnosed with some social disorder yet. You must have been really lucky with your teachers.”

“Y-you think there might be something defective about me?” Taehoon questioned in an almost fearful way. It wasn’t uncommon for ‘defective’ people with many social disorders to go into special containment facilities when the government deemed necessary.

Brenda shrugged. “Well, if you’re still allowed to go to this school, then you must be at least somewhat alright,” she looked out across the campus, not making eye contact with Taehoon for a few moments. “I just want you to be careful. I care about you and don’t want you getting into any trouble with the government.”

A more distant look crossed Taehoon’s face as he looked away as well, feeling a little uneasy about the whole idea of being taken away and removed from society. There was nothing more scary than the idea that the government would deem you unworthy of living under its protection…

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The day continued on at its regular, benign pace. Taehoon walked Brenda home before heading down the road further to where the bus terminal was to catch his ride home. No school buses went out in his direction and driving personal vehicles was extremely regulated. Even so, only four buses went out to where his house was every day: two in the morning and two in the afternoon. The bus he was about the ride was the last one that headed home for the day and it would be around sunset by the time he arrived. It was a major inconvenience and Taehoon could never participate in nightly school activities unless he stayed the night somewhere.

Waiting for the bus, he took a seat on an old, rusted bench and watched the clock. He was a little early and he watched other buses come in, load up, and pull out.

The bus terminal was always a frantically busy place as it was how most people in the city got around. Many bus routes ran on schedules that left the station every ten minutes. The buses themselves were long, segmented vehicles that would look more like trains than road vehicles, but it was necessary to transport the large number of citizens to and from their schools, jobs and places of enjoyment.

Cars still existed in this era of time, but there were few and were only used by the elite and emergency services. The few that did exist all ran on hydrogen, a clean fuel that produced only water vapor as exhaust. It was a well-known fact that people weren’t responsible enough to drive their own vehicles and that everyone would be much better off if the only ones driving were trained professionals hand-picked by the government, and no one dare question the government.

Life had always been this way: there was never a time where people were allowed to drive vehicles freely on the street. If that were to happen, many would surely die. Taehoon tried to imagine what that kind of world would be like but deemed it as unimaginable.

The bus out to the small rural communities up the canyon was late, as usual, and also as usual, the route received the oldest, most run-down bus in the county’s arsenal. With its scratched paint and dirty windows, it was obviously the lowest priority bus for maintenance. Even so, nobody complained, as it was assigned by the government so there must have been good reason behind it.

The few passengers boarded the bus unquestioningly and took their seats in the stuffy, dusty old passengers area. The plastic seats were stained odd colors and were scratched up and carved by the various people who had ridden in the years long past.

Doug was here!

Taehoon searched the seats for a spot that didn’t have any chewed gum stuck to it as a place for him to sit down. He eventually found a spot near the back, a window seat on the left-hand side. There, he rested his backpack on the floor between his legs and stared out the smudge-covered window with distant eyes.

“Thank you very much!” a young passenger thanked the driver, entirely grateful for the ride despite the condition of the bus.

The albino boy paid little attention to the other people on the bus: he had seen them all before as part of his daily routine. There were the elderly, the young and even a few sickly people, who were lucky the government hadn’t taken them away to a state hospital yet.

It wasn’t long before the bus started to quiver as the driver revved the engine up and prepared for the final trek of the evening. A full hour away from home, Taehoon always let his mind wander on the way, curiously staring out into the world beyond the glass he peered through. Not much changed on the route from day to day, but the little differences fascinated him. One day, there would be a tree, and the next, it would be just a stump…

Taehoon was thrown forward a little when the bus made a sudden stop to prevent hitting a jaywalker, then continued on once more. A few moments later, Taehoon was able to clearly see the jaywalker. Even though it was only for a moment, Taehoon noted the odd appearance of the person… Something was on the right side of what looked to be a young man. A cold chill ran through Taehoon when the jaywalker’s dark eyes appeared to have looked right at him, then right through him…

But in a split moment, the bus was already back on course and with no window out the back, Taehoon was unable to catch another glimpse of the person.

Oddly excited thoughts started to run through Taehoon’s mind about the person he had just seen. Were there… tattoos… on his face? If he had, then that would have been a very unlikely trait, indeed. Tattoos were associated with individuals who were out to cause trouble and break the law so they were usually imprisoned by the government. Shaking the memory out of his head, Teahoon decided that he had probably made a mistake about what he was seeing. The windows were messy and they weren’t stopped for long, so the rational side of his mind decided that it was probably just a normal person.

It wasn’t long before Taehoon’s mind was off wandering again, unknowingly and unwillingly deciphering a deep, creative section of his brain…

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The television in the living room blared as Brenda worked on preparing dinner in the kitchen. She hated the job of cooking, but no one else would do it, so in order to get anything done, she volunteered to do it every night for her family. She had five younger brothers and sisters and lived with her mother. Her father had vanished without a trace years earlier, before the youngest of her siblings could be born. Nobody knew where he had vanished to or why, but it destroyed Brenda’s mother. After he disappeared, she had become a complete mess and stopped going to work. Now living on government-paid expenses, Brenda feared that if her mother became too much of a burden for society that the government would take her away.

Brenda reached over for a bottle of spices but before she could reach it, the bottle fell over and broke into a million pieces. Startled, Brenda jumped back a step, wondering why it had suddenly broken that way. She looked around the kitchen, but she was alone. Everyone was in the living room still, watching television.

Sure of herself that no one had heard the smash, she decided to go ahead and clean up the mess, but before she could start, her heart skipped a beat and she suddenly thought of Taehoon.

Looking around the room, suddenly distracted by the random thought of her friend, Brenda suddenly became aware of every detail in her surroundings, from the tiniest crack in the wall to each and every single little magnet that resided on the refrigerator.

What is this cold feeling? Brenda thought to herself, uneasy. Taehoon… you better not have done anything stupid…

Trying to block the feeling out of her head so she could get back to work on her family’s meal, Brenda told herself with confidence that nothing was wrong and it was just her mind playing tricks on her. There’s no such thing as ghosts and omens. Taehoon is fine and I’ll see him again at school on Monday. With that, she finished cleaning up the mess and carried on with her task, slowly getting back into her rhythm and forgetting what she felt during that little incident.