RO SIDE STORY - IMRE

1980

Imre Alonzo Duran didn’t want to go to school.

Alara, his mother had said that if he wanted to be a smart boy he would need to go to school because only stupid children didn’t go.

He had protested. He had yelled. He had locked himself in his room. He had said he could teach himself education. It would’ve worked if his Father hadn’t broken the door down by kicking it. It still hurts Imre to sit down.

With a sullen look, he followed the rest of the children as they filed into school. He already knew where to go, he could read perfectly and had a decent sense of direction. That’s why he didn’t need to go to school.

He shrugged off his coat and hung it gently on the hook. It was his favourite coat, he didn’t want it to fall and be stepped on. As young Imre was carefully taking out his crayons, colouring book and Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth – he had read it five times now – he had accidentally glanced down the row of children putting away their things.

He looked past the sea of red coats, curly hair and little hands to see someone he had never seen before. He thought he had seen all the kids in town at the park, everyone went to the park.

This kid was standing still. Their mouth was moving and maybe they were talking to someone but no one was near them. Who were they talking to? Imre let his belongings dangling in his hands by his sides as he stared at this kid.

Their mouth kept moving and he was sure now that they weren’t talking to anyone. Then, the kid turned their head slowly to the side and looked directly at him. Their eyes looked like anyone’s eyes. But there was something about them that made the young boy feel cold. Their eyes didn’t shine like everyone else’s.

The kid – their classmate – turned to their bag and took out their crayons. They walked away from the hooks and into the carpet area. Imre hadn’t moved at all. He stood like a statue as the children around him were already going to the carpet too.

He felt cold. That was true but he didn’t feel scared. The opposite, he got the same feeling from those eyes that he got when Aronnax, Land and Conseil fell into the sea and climbed the monster to survive. He zipped his backpack up and walked to the carpet area, sitting down between two kids and directly across from the kid with the dead eyes.

They seemed to not be looking at anything. Like daydreaming. That was fine by Imre as his mind raced with two thoughts. One, this is what an angel looks like and two, I will know why those eyes have no light.