Once Upon A Time, In A KIngdom Far Far Away (Dec 19, 2008)

Current mood:nostalgic

When I was a teenager, I was a bit of a hellion. Really, by that, all I
mean is that I couldn't deal with my family life, my parents fighting
all the time and my brother being a twit, so I ran away. A lot.
Sometimes I stayed with friends, sometimes I stayed in an abandoned
house downtown. 

The longest stay anywhere, though, was after I
was arrested several dozen times. I was sent to Girl School in
Indianapolis. It was pretty miserable. Obviously, I didn't fit in with
the other people there. The inmates, as it were, all thought I was some
witch-craft practicing freak and the staff wasn't all that keen on
disagreeing with them. 

Girl School is separated up into
several different buildings. I managed to convince the counselors that
I had temper problems so that I would be placed in a specific one, one
where I would not be assigned a room mate. I figured if I had to be
here, I was at least going to be alone, since it was looking like I
would be the social outcast here, as well. 

Often, while the
rest of the girls in my "cottage" would be out enjoying free time in
the rec room, I would choose to stay in my room and read or draw or
just stare out the window. I particularly liked watching other people
outside. I enjoyed watching the other groups walk around outside almost
as much as being out there myself because I liked seeing the girls
interacting with one another in whatever way and making up stories in
my head about what they were discussing or arguing about.

One
day, I was sitting alone in my room, staring idly out the window, when
one of the other groups was en route somewhere. I watched them filing
down the path in semi-organized rows of two, when my eyes caught sight
of something I hadn't quite expected. About three quarters the way down
through one of the lines was the most fascinating sight. 

A
girl, about my age from the looks of it, dressed almost entirely in
black. With BOOTS on! Her hair was short, shorter in the back and on
top and spiked, and longer in the front. It framed her face nicely. I
watched her walking in her line until I had to crane my neck to see...
and then she was gone. 

I made up my mind right then and there
that I would meet this girl and that maybe Girl School wouldn't be
nearly as terrible with another person in here that seemed normal on MY
scale. I did so the following day at school. 

Her name was Daphne.