"Hey nerd!" James throws another book in Rachel's direction. "Why the fuck do you think you can stay here? This place is for cool kids only" Rachel just stares at his feet, tears begging to spill. He stands quietly and picks up his books, and some of the ones that James threw at him. He begins to place the books back on the shelves of the library. 

"Hey! Pay attention when people are talking to you, loser!" one of the girls sitting with James shouts, throwing an eraser at the back of his head. Rachel turns around and picks up the eraser, setting it back next to the girl and heads towards the receptionist. She looks up at Rachel and lets out an annoyed sigh when he places his books down on the counter. 

"Don't you study enough? You're already top of your class." she says as she scans the books one by one. Rachel keeps his gaze at his books, watching them get piled back up. Once the receptionist finishes, Rachel hands her his library card. She snatches it from him, almost afraid to touch him. She checks him out and hands the card back to him. Rachel mutters a polite "Thank you" and picks up his books. He heads towards the doors of the library and out into the hallway of his high school. Rachel sniffles slightly, the tears he was holding back escaping. He wishes someone would stop for him, ask him what's wrong, but no one will. No one ever does. 

Rachel picks up his pace, now almost sprinting towards his locker. He needs to get away from here. He'll skip school for the rest of the day, he tells himself. No one will notice I'm gone. 

No one will notice.

He shoves his books into his locker and slams it shut. He winces at the sound, but before he can check to see if he damaged anything, he sprints towards the front doors, tears now streaming down his face. 

He gets outside of the school and feels a minor weight lift off his shoulders. He sighs, and starts to run towards the old bridge in the center of town. It's his quiet place, it's where he needs to be, he thinks to himself. 

Winded and tired, he trudges towards the bridge, pushing past people and tripping over his feet. 

"Today might be the day" he says. He smiles to himself as tears continue to flow from his eyes, and he keeps running.

When he reaches the bridge, he looks around. A small stream running under the old crooked bridge. Woods just beyond the other side of the bridge. 

"This is where I belong." Rachel smiles to himself as he walks across the bridge. He can feel all his troubles melting away as he reaches back and undoes his hair, letting it flow down in curly brown waves to the small of his back. He pulls a contact case out of his backpack and pulls out the colored green contacts, unavailing the deep hazel ones beneath. 

Here he is free. 

Rachel sets down his bag at the edge of the bridge and walks into the thicket of the woods, running his hands over the trees and various plant life. He continues to walk until he knows he is no longer visible from the bridge.

He turns his back to the woods and opens his mouth, notes and thoughts coming out in the form of a song. His eyes fluttering closed, his vocals flowing past his lips. A song without lyrics, sad and unhappy. He feels the wind brush through his hair, imagining the trees move with it. He listens to the sounds of the creatures move along the ground, he imagines them all gathering around his feet to listen to his song. He smiles to himself happily as more tears flow free from his eyes. He imagines himself standing over a cliff, singing out to the ocean below him. 

Rachel continues this for a short while before he can hear a snap of a twig. It sounded much too heavy to be one of the deer or wolves. He stops singing and huddles down to the ground afraid someone had heard him. The foot steps grow closer, and more obviously human. His breath hitches as he wipes at the tears on his cheeks. 

"Rachel...?"