It was always a boring affair. Life, people, school and every other thing that went on. It was always boring, even his name; Marle Dickson sounded boring every time he heard it from his mouth or from someone else's.
Then at a certain stage Marle was troubled with mixed thoughts. What if he was the one that was boring, the one who had nothing to show for. A perfect example was life at the orphanage. Everyone he grew up with got adopted out at one point or the other meanwhile only him remained. Both kids younger than him got adopted, yet only him remained.
His foster mother-Mother Maryann always told him he didn't cry often as a baby, at first he found it hard to believe, but by the time he understood how boring the world including himself were he realised maybe she was right.
There was nothing worth crying about. Not even the hunger for milk.
Mother Maryann called him special–she said everyone was special in their own way but that only made people seem more boring at first.
Denise was the only person that was not too boring, most times she's the most interesting person to exist then in the next she's like everyone else.
After Denise came Dante. While Marle and Denise grew together, Dante came along when they were all in ninth grade.
Dante wasn't like the rest, he wasn't like everybody else, he wasn't like Denise either. He was just different. Talking to Dante and being close to him made Marle understand what Mother Maryann meant by everyone is special.
Dante was special, Denise too. They did things that make one question some things. Like trying to have fun with a socially awkward, introverted kid who just wants to be alone. No matter how many times he pushed them away they always came back nagging and with time Marle got used to them.
The both of them were unique to him
They brought thrill, fun and excitement into Marle's life. They gave him the reason to wake up every morning and look up to another day of school. Life became an interesting affair for Marle, and it was all thanks to people who made it that way, until the man in the blue shirt, the little girl, the pale hungry looking flight attendants and finally the crash.
***
The summer sun was harsh, bathing its hurtful rays on the earth. The dry wind whistled softly, kicking up dust particles and causing trees to dance to its rhythm. Old leaves fell off, becoming a play thing for the breeze and also paving way for the new leaves to sprout.
There, in the open, was a crash site. The other half of the airplane lay cold and rusted on the open field..
Marle glared at the black airplane ceiling. There was no form of thinking going on in his head, he wasn't trying to remember what happened, what he experienced before the crash and afterwards he just stared at the black ceiling, numb.
His right hand suddenly twitched and then followed the whole arm lifting itself up and stopping before his face. Marle finally moved his gaze to his hand.
There was a big metal platform on his waist pinning him to the ground. Marle tried to lift his upper body when an intense pain evaded his brain. He let out a cry and laid on his back.
Marle took a deep breath, the pain still lingering around his head and his face. He moved his toes and made sure his lower body was still in one piece. After the quick confirmation he tried again and pulled himself up to the point of sitting down on his butt.
He let out a soft cry, this time not as loud as before.
He huffed and pant, gathering all the strength he needed to push the platform out from his legs.
He controlled his breath, moved his fingers beneath the platform and yanked it over to the side with a loud grunt and cry. He then laid back on his back again to catch his breath after his big achievement.
Marle began to recollect. He knew he'd experience a crash, he remembered the man on blue feasting on flesh and blood, he remembered that Kei, Dante and others were at the other side of the plan, he and also remember the plane Attendant and the little girl–
Marle shot forward sitting as he looked around but couldn't catch sight of the girl, he pulled himself up to his feet, staggered and crashed back on the floor letting out a grunt. He tried to push himself up again but touches something that felt soft just beside him
It was covered with black dust like charcoal. Marle dusted it until it revealed a teddy bear, the same one the little girl had on her.
Marle had a strong feeling she was close, maybe was still asleep but he was still yet to realise how long since the plane crashed.
Marle pulled himself up again to his feet this time leaning on the wall until he regained his balance. He held onto the wall as he searched. The search was difficult as the whole plane was upside down and the fact that he was in the bathroom section. Mops, melted rubber that were previously buckets. Woods and mental all over the place and everything was covered in black dust.
At some point he gave up and wanted to make it out of the plane. He stumbled across bodies, wires and mentals until he finally exits through the opening where the plane had divided in half.
The sun blinded him for some seconds, then a minute or two before he had adjusted completely.
Marle realised the plane was at the center of the soccer field. The grass was green and had grown, all except where the crash had happened. Almost all the grass around the crash was dead, the ones still barely alive were brown having a hue of yellow.
Marle marched forward and stepped on something that almost made him trip. It was human, a small human and Marle recognized her. Her size, the color of her cloth, the hair, he fully recognized the little girl he wanted to save.
He knelt down, vision blurred with tears as he picked her up from the ground, a bite mark on her small arm so deep that it almost cleaved it in two. Her clothes stained with what looked like her own blood, Marle could have thought she died from blood loss until he saw a gunshot mark on her head, point blank. He wondered which kind of monster would hurt a girl–a little girl.
He was filled with hate and sorrow. He picked the girl up from the ground and made his way to the school building. She needed a proper burial.