A Thousand Words

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Have you ever heard of Kyria Petrayic? Of course you haven't. Nobody ever has. If they've heard of the name, it's only because they heard Kyria Petrayic tripped and spilled milk all through her hair. Otherwise, Kyria Petrayic is invisible. She has never had any friends. Nobody knows about her. I know what you're thinking: then how do you know about her? Because Petrayic is my last name. And Kyria, the strangest first name I've ever heard of I can assure you, has been dubbed my first.

I hate my name. I hate my life. And I especially hate my stupid mind. I have a dreamer's mind. I am cursed with daydreams of better lives and love, and even such ludicrous things as happiness sometimes, all throughout the day. And when I am snapped back to reality, it is only to remind me that it will never happen. I am invisible. And I always will be. But that doesn't stop my mind from going wild with fantasies. Maybe I was taken away from my real parents as a baby. Maybe they'll come for me someday and they'll turn out to be famous and everybody will know my name.

But when I open my eyes and find myself in the same dull world I was in before, I'm always struck with embarrassment and disappointment.

I wake up in my room after yet another of my embarrassing fantasies to find heartbreaking reality waiting for me. I find that I am not, in fact, inside the arms of Brian Gyrian, the absolute hottest guy in school, but am on my dull and lifeless bed in my especially dull and lifeless room. I sigh and trudge over to the mirror. Same old boring self. Same brown hair, same boring brown eyes, same deathly pale skin. Same ugly, boring body belonging to a complete failure.

I sigh and force myself to go to school anyways, even though I know I won't be happy at all. It doesn't really seem to matter whether I'm happy, life continues on without me just fine. My locker is just as desolate as ever, my desk still unseen next to Brian. He sits next to me in every class and he hasn't ever so much as looked at me. Not that I expect him to. There's nobody waiting by my desk to chat with me, there's no balloons telling me happy birthday. Yes, it is my birthday. And not a single soul in the school has noticed.

When I get to lunch, nobody is waiting for me. My table is as empty as always. But there is something waiting for me. I can usually assume it's for somebody else, but there's a card with my name on it sitting next to it. It's a cupcake. And the card is a birthday card. What's going on? The cupcake is most definitely professionally done. you could never find anything like it sitting casually at the rack of the bakery down at Safeway. It's absolutely beautiful. It has a heart with a small keyhole, and a key, both made in icing, sticking out of the cupcake. I stare at it in awe for a while before tearing open the card and officially reading it.

Kyria: it's difficult finding something to give you when you already have everything within me. You already have the key to my heart. So I do apologize, but a physical representation of that is all I can do. At least until I can actually speak with you and learn what you would want. My heart is pounding in my ears as I read the same thing over and over. I rub desperately at my eyes, but I don't wake up. This has to be a dream, right? There's no possible way it could be real.

But who could it be? It could be anybody. Maybe somebody I've never even heard of. There are a few people I can eliminate immediately. There's no way it's Brian. Or, obviously, any girl. Unless it's a lesbian. But I don't think so. The handwriting is too messy to belong to a girl anyways. It can't be anybody who hangs out with Brian, or Nick. Nick once slammed right into me and then explained that he didn't see me when he was forced to bring me to the nurse. There are quite a few people it can't be. But I can't think of one person that it honestly could be.

I go through the rest of the day in a daze. When I get to my locker after school to go home, there's another letter waiting for me. I carefully open it and read. Follow the yellow brick road. Yellow brick road? What are they playing at? I shake my head and make my way out of the school. I'm half way home when I see something that makes my heart stop. There's a path, made of yellow bricks, that leads up to a secluded house. I know exactly who lives in that house. And there, taped to the gate, is another letter. Don't be afraid, Kyria. Just walk up to the door. How can I not be afraid?

This isn't funny. He's trying to play with me. But how did he know it was my birthday? I only mentioned it once, and that was when the teacher was writing down all of the birthdays around the room. Even the teacher forgot about my birthday, and I hadn't seen a single person writing it down. I know he didn't write it down, because he wasn't even there that day. He ditches a lot. Which is why I'm afraid. He isn't exactly one to respect rules. He's not the sort of person I want to be tangled up with.

I breathe slowly and steadily as I finally convince myself to open the gate and follow the yellow brick road. And there, leaning casually against the door, is Axel Carver. The school's bad boy. "Took you long enough." This could be very interesting.