Kyliee

I was at school and I was going through my cubbie and the teacher ended up going out for a moment. "Hey, Kyliee!" I looked to see one of my many bullies named Fred. I didn't say anything as always though. It's not that I was actually mute, but I was just selectively mute.

"You got a cat on your tongue or a frog in your throat?" He asked and I glared at hjm a bit before kneeling to focus into my cubbie. At least before I was pushed from the side of me and I yelped before hitting on my side and it hurt, honestly. I slowly tried to get up until Fred stomped on my side. I cried out from the pain and Fred leaned down a bit towards me. "You gonna talk now?"

I shook my head and he glared a bit before he took his foot off of my side and then began kicking me in the stomach and I kept whimpering at every kick. "You'll start talking or I'll make this worse for you." He said. I glanced at the other students and saw they all were just watching and a few with grins. The others had neutral expressions. I frowned and stared at the ground as he then kept beating me.

When PE time was around, I just stayed to the fence on a far outfield. I was cryjng as I always ended up doing because the bullying was an everyday occurrance for me. It was just a matter of time before I would snap. Tommorrow was the Halloween Party that I really wanted to go to and I guess James was going to be there.

James was someone I had a crush on for a short while and I've wanted to try and talk with him for a while as well, but I could never bring myself to. I've always wanted to talk to him though, but due to my major case of social anxiety, I couldn't.

Once the day was over, I rushed home and I could only focus on wanting to go to the Halloween Party at the school. I eventually got home and Mommy was in the kitchen. We lived across the street from the school grounds, so it was fine for me to walk home, according to her.

"Kyliee, are you home?" Mom called and I smiled, heading to the kitchen where she was.

"Yeah, it's me, Mommy!" I exclaimed, grinning and she smiled, kneeling to me and she smiled.

"How was school, sweetheart?"

"Same as always." I replied simply.

"That's great. Go ahead and head to your room. I'm making a special tonight." She said and she kissed my forehead. I smiled with a small giggle and went to my room to wait for Mommy to finish cooking. I never told her about me being bullied or even showed her I was being hurt by them.

I had no idea how she would react and I didn't want to chance it. I heard a small rock hit below my window and I looked out my window to see my imaginary friend, though he seems like he's more or less actually there and not imaginary to me. He was a rainbow clown and with red hair and blue eyes. He was pretty colorful and a lot different from other clowns. Usually, most clowns just unsettled me, but that was mostly cause they themselves made themselves seem unsettling for me. I mean, who the heck would style their hairs into afros on the sides of their heads?

I grinned and waved at him to signal that I saw him and I left my room. "I'll be back, Mommy! I'm just gonna be with a friend!" I exclaimed and she looked at me.

"Alright, just be careful, sweetheart." Mom said and I nodded with a hum before going to meet my friend. His name was Laughing Jack, but I just liked calling him Jackie for short.

When I got to where Jackie was, he was now sitting in a tree. "Hey, Kyliee!" He exclaimed excitedly and he came down as I grinned.

"Hey, Jackie! Can we visit the park today?" I asked with a smile and he chuckled.

"Sure! Let's go." He said and we headed to the park. We were talking about how our day went, but again, he never knew about me being bullied at school, since I only told him about the fun and good stuff, since I felt like my problems shouldn't be meddled with. Mostly if I ended up with black eye, it would be on my right eye that was naturally covered with my bangs.

"Is something wrong?" Jackie asked and I looked at hin to see that he seemed a bit worried.

"Sorry, I'm fine." I said with a grin at him.

"You always give that look from before when something's wrong, Kyliee." He said and I was able to get an idea of how to dodge it.

"There's supposed to be a Halloween Party event at school, but I'm not sure what I should be. I'm hoping to talk with Mommy about going." I said, smiling. He smiled back happily.

"That sounds like a lot of fun!" He exclaimed and I grinned.

"It is! It's like Halloween, but it's at the school this time!" I said and he giggled.

"You like Halloween?" He asked and I looked at him.

"Well, mostly because it's a great way to get free candy every year." I said, smiling.  "Not to mention, it's fun to see how creative families get with their costumes." I said and he chuckled.

"I think I might have an idea on what you can be." He said and I tilted ny head with a slightly surprised look.

"Really?"

"I've helped you every Halloween since you were six, so I think it'll be a nice change." He said and I smiled, hugging him.

"Thanks, Jackie!" I exclaimed and he smiled, hugging me back, happily.

"Anything to keep you happy, Kyliee." He said and we headed into a store and into the Halloween costume aisle. Well, he did while I went to find something to wear with whatever Jackie could find. I ended up finding a white long sleeved dress that was loose closer to the hands and cut at the shoulders but the sleeves were tighter at the upper arm and I grabbed it from thr hanging bar and put it against my body, which it seemed to go just above my knees.

I heard footsteps nearby and I looked while hiding the dress behind my back. Jackie had a grin. "Hey, Kyliee. Got anything picked out yet?" He asked and I smiled.

"I think so." I said and he nodded.

"Let's go try it then!" He exclaimed and I smiled with a nod.

"Okay!"

When we got to the changing rooms, I went inside one on my own and changed into the dress, but I still kept my jeans on, so I wasn't as revealing that I don't like to be so soon. I always liked most of my body covered if I could. I stared at myself for a moment and I began feeling a bit nervous about wearing it and showing it to Jackie.

"You almost done in there, Kyliee?" He asked and I looked towards the door.

"Y-Yeah, I'm done. . ." I took a last glance at myself before I went to the door and I cracked it open before I went ahead and went out. Jackie's cheeks went a bit red as he smiled.

"It looks great on you. Here, turn around and close your eyes." He said and I trusted him, so I did so. It felt like he was attaching something to my dress, but I didn't know what and I knew I couldn't peek so that he could do what he needed to. Next thing I knew, I felt skmethjng like a flower crown get placed on my head and I was confused for a moment. "Alright, you're all set!" He exclaimed and I opened my eyes and looked on my back to see pretty purple wings that were dark on the inside and then became brighter as it went out and theh were metal around the outlines with paper and tiny amounts of glitter. I took the flower crown off of my head and there were plastic purple colored lavenders decorating around it with leaves.

"Do you like them?" Jackie asked and I immediately hugged him, happily.

"I love them!" I exclaimed and he seemed happy as well, since he hugged me back, even though he was probably slightly toppled back from me suddenly hugging him.

"I'm glad then." He said and after a bit, I managed to have bought everything with Jackie's help and we left the store as I felt excited about wearing the costume now. I honestly loved butterflies and his idea, I guess, was for me to be a butterfly fairy. I didn't exactly unserstand the whole thing, but it had to do with butterflies, so I just let it be, since Jackie seems to make the best ideas that would match me perfectly.

When we got to my home, we went up to my room and began playing a bit. After a while, I ended up falling asleep and I was lying on the floor, but I felt Jackie pick me up and lay me in bed before covering me with my covers.

Laughing Jack

After getting her covered, I grabbed one of her stuffed animals which was a fox made for children to sleep with and I had it set in front of her and she immediately grabbed onto it and cuddled to it in her sleep. I smiled a bit, happily. She looked cute when she was sleeping, even though she did love the night time, the fact that school for her was in the middle of the day, kept her from being able to want to stare at the night sky all night until dawn. I left the room and went back to my usual place I would go to live. My carnival. It was a fun place and one of Kyliee's favorite places to go to, since it's never crowded and has quite a few fun things.

Kyliee enjoyed coming here every holiday and occassionally when she wanted to get away from something, though I had no idea what she'd want to get away from. She was always vague on things she didn't want to talk about, and her mother was a nice person that always tried to look out for her when she could.

Kyliee

I woke up the next day and got ready to go to school. When I was ready, I headed downstairs and saw Mom already awake. "Morning, Mommy!" I exclaimed and she looked at me and smiled.

"Morning, sweetheart." She said and I got up in a chair at the table and she set a plate of food in front of me. "Now eat up. You've got a long day ahead." She said and I looked at her.

"It's just a normal school day, Mom."

"Not with the Halloween event the school is having tonight, darling."

"H-Huh?" I blushed a bit and looked at Mom. "How'd you know-?"

"You always want to go every year, and it's always on tbe same date. How about you and I go shopping for something for you to go as this time?" She said and I looked at her.

"Actually, me and Jackie kinda already did that. . ." Mom was a bit surprised and then she seemed a bit upset in the sad kind of way. "Mommy?" I asked out worriedly. She smiled slightly at me.

"Oh, Kyliee. I know you like Jackie and you like being friends with him, but sometimes people don't care much for things they can't see." She said, crouching to just below my height while I sat in the chair.

"Are you saying I can't be friends with him anymore?" I askex, feeling hurt that she was suggesting it.

"No, no, it's just. . ." She sighed and put a hand on my back. "I'm fine with you being friends with Jackie, since I know from the stories you tell me, he sounds like a great friend to have with you. It's just that others might think differently about your friendship with someone they can't see. . ." She said and I felt a bit better since she said it, but the drawings I made that kept disappearing for the last two years were gone everyday I came home from school.

After eating breakfast, I went to school after saying bye to Mom and I headed straight to the classroom and sat at my desk. I didn't feel like having to deal with kids yelling over each other in the cafeteria and I easily got a headache from that sort of thing.

After the school day, I got home and changed into my Halloween costume that I bought with Jackie. Only thing is. . .the wings were very difficult for me to put on. . .

"Need help with the wings?" I looked to see Jackie and I smiled.

"Yes please. It's difficult to put them on when they go on my back. . ." He chuckled and fixed them for me.

"There, that's better." He said with a smile and I grinned at him.

"Thanks, Jackie."

I had no idea that was going to be the last day anhthing was going to be normal though and it would all go downhill. . .