Alone

Raine strided across the rooftops of the school, hardly noticeable to the people below her. She could probably drop down amongst them, and no one would notice her. Or at least, most people wouldn't. She had come across a rare few who were naturally aware of her presence, but most had to be taught and trained to really turn an eye towards her. She had never fully understood why she was this way, a virtual member of the shadows. But she had learned to accommodate.

Raine had learned to enjoy watching people, as well. She was stricken when she found people who, like her, appeared not to belong in the world that they were presented. And today she seemed to find another.

Behind the school, in a somewhat closed off area that required the jumping off fences to reach, there was a boy. The boy was dressed in deep greens, with his sleeves pulled back, and headphones pulled over his ears. Raine dropped from the roof to land behind him, but he wasn't paying any attention to her. His eyes were closed, drum sticks clenched tightly in his hands, swinging away at an imaginary drum set, lost in his own world of music.

Raine reached around her back and swung the bass guitar strapped there down in to her arms. She rarely traveled anywhere without it. It gave her comfort, made her feel in control of the shadows that seemed to entrap her. Though it was electric and had no amp through which to play, as she fingered the strings, she could swear she could hear the notes regardless. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that she could feel them. She could never decide.

It only took a few measures before she find a groove within the boy's drum beats. Though they had no sound, much as her bass did not, she could feel them too. It seemed to be a pattern among those like her. As she played, she moved around the boy, not in front of him, but enough so that if he opened his eyes she would be in his line of sight. For a time, they played together in silence, lost in their own worlds that were beginning to meld.

As the boy's music faded away in his headphones and he slowed down to wait for the next song to begin to play, he opened his eyes and saw Raine following in suit. He didn't say anything, just smiled, and they made eye contact. Then the next song began, and his eyes closed once again, and they continued to play.

They stayed like that, playing together in silence, until the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period. The boy moved his sticks to one hand and slipped his headphones off before opening his eyes to greet Raine and ask her name.

But she had already slipped away.