(B)ryan's World

Bryan was a social outcast. His first year of high school had him pegged as a geeked out loser already, and the semester had just begun. For Bryan it wasn’t a matter of looks, or an addiction to outdated childish card games involving monsters. Bryan was just wired differently. His brain operated on an entirely different wave length than his classmates’. Bryan was a Martian. He quickly decided his inability to communicate must be that he was not human. It was assumptions like these that not only made perfect sense to Bryan, but where also I large part of why he was an outcast.

Bryan’s lacking social life lead to large gaps of free time that he needed to fill. School could have easily filled the void for Bryan, but mindless busy work, and mathematics he would never actually use in the practical world where not exactly Bryans forte. Instead Bryan chose to take another, more creative route to consume his down time. Words. Bryan was a man of words. He wrote them, everywhere, forming them into songs, poems and stories. The simple act of scribbling down words cleared his mind, they made everything ok. The world around him would just disappear and he could get lost in the words on the page.

The bell released the hordes of students from their assigned cages, they poured out into the hallways like a flood. Bryan was lost in the flood absent mindedly sifting his way through the people, while his mind was piecing together the elements of his next story. Lost in his own creation Bryan failed to notice the heft forearm shove into the lockers. A physical collision of that nature was a rude snap back to the buzz of the hallways. The owner of the forearm laughed high fiving his closest bumbling idiot. The jock reminded Bryan of gorillas, physically fit specimens that just failed to evolve to their full mental potential. Bryan shoved his books back into his arms, and resumed his journey. Bryan believed in a more non-confrontational approach. Not out of some religious pursuit to be a better person, but out of necessity. Bryan learned very early on that it’s hard to be confrontational when you have toothpicks for arms, and fist magnet of a face.

Bryan weaved his way into his next class room; he sat in the far back. Attempting to disappear amongst the crowds of students. Bryan pulled his notebook from his pack, laying it before him like a dinner plate. Bryan’s hands clutched at pocket lint, desperately searching for his pen that was in the other pocket. Eventually Bryan found his pen, removing it from its cave and bringing it out into the florescent lights of the school. Bryan pressed his Excalibur against the page the ink spewed out slowly onto the bone white paper. He began crafting his world like an artist painting with words. He crafted a verbal city scape that began to take life around him. The small class room gave way to expansive car littered streets. Building rose up out of the desks around Bryan. He could see and feel the city he created, and the classroom melted away. Bryan was a word traveler. He could go anywhere he wanted; all he had to do was create it.

With the city laid about before him Bryan began to populate it with various people most of them where just for ambiance. They were stuck in one position, little detail given to them. They were just to make Bryan’s world feel more real. But some characters were purposely crafted with exact details. Like her. Bryan began to scribble “her” into existence. Her brown hair fell softly out from beneath a hand knitted beanie. It wasn’t cold in Bryan’s city scape, the beanie was and expression of her style. And Bryan really liked beanies on a cute girl. Her smile came next, it gleamed bright white. But more than that it evoked emotion from both her, and those who witness its beauty. You could feel her smile. Bryan crafted her eyes, brown like mud, with gold dust sprinkled in the mix. The shades of brown swirling in her eyes were so complex you could stare for days and still notice new colors and details. Her slender body was a spitting image of cute. Tight jeans with rips up the legs revealing coffee colored skin. Her tight gray shirt hugged her curves, and a colorful Blink-182 logo accentuated her chest. The logo was her badge, she wore it with pride. Bryan made her an Alex, a name he thought suited her to the tee.

Alex was just a mannequin at this point, incapable of human interaction or emotion. But that was what Bryan wanted. He wanted Alex to interact with him, he wanted her to feel real. So he twiddled his wand and it spewed ink on the page culminating into Alex’s personality. She was outgoing spontaneous and very strange. Her upbeat personality made the best of every situation and she had and immense energy and enthusiasm for simply being alive. She loved music, it was her religion. Especially Blink, but most of all Alex CARED about Bryan. More than anyone in Bryan’s life ever had before. When the furious scribbles of Bryan’s pen stopped Alex came to life.

“Bryan let’s get coffee!” there was an excitement in her voice that made Bryans heart skip. She took Bryan by the hand and they raced to the nearest coffee shop. Bryan sipped his coffee, feeling to warm sensation is the coffee rushed to his stomach. He intently listened to Alex ramble about everything from Aliens to her understanding of the concept of love. He fired back his own ideas and opinions of the subjects. Sparking a lively conversation that drew the attention of all the customers present in the coffee shop. They both had an admire one another with a passion that was visible when they locked eyes.

“let’s get out of here!” with her words the coffee shop faded, replaced by a large parking structure. Alex and Bryan sat together straddling the top ledge. One foot flirting with danger while the other anchored them to safety. The Black sky gleamed with thousands of spilt diamonds that where suspended above their heads. Bryan’s heart raced as his mind tried to grasp how perfect the moment felt. For once Bryan couldn’t create with words the happiness that swelled inside him, pushing his heart to its ultimate capacity of love. Alex shyly looked up from the pavement and caught Bryans gaze. “I love you Bryan” the words whispered out into the night air, crashing into Bryans heart with a surge of emotion and excitement he could hardly bare. He landed in slowly to show her his love, but his lips only found the air. Bryans world was gone, he fell through and empty void. A bell was nagging his ears as he fell into his desk. The bell was class dismissal; Bryan was left alone at his desk. He looked down at the pages of his note book and smiled. Alex was gone for now, but when life tried to get Bryan down he knew where he could find her. And that always made him smile.

(The End, for those of you who somehow didn’t catch it, Bryan is me. I know what a clever name change!)