"Where the fuck is my cane?" I grumble, searching for it with my hands. I got pushed in the hallway again. I don't even know why I go to a normal school, they just happen to have programs for me, I guess. My backpack weighed me down as I crouched on the ground, blindly looking for the cane that helps me. Ha, blindly. I smirk slightly as I felt the handle, but stop when I felt a gloved hand. "Thanks." I say after a brief pause. I hear a ruffle, but that's all. "What, you're not going to say anything?" I say in a rough voice. "Too embarrassed to talk to me, huh? I don't care if you walk away." I stand up, my backpack shifting. "That's what I'm going to do, after all." I whisper slightly and start walking away. The person didn't move, didn't bother to say anything. Well, fuck them! I don't care!

"What the fuck, Damara?" I spit out, a little of the copper-tasting blood leaking out. "We had a deal, I leave everybody alone, and you stop hurting me." I could hear her churlish giggles. God, it made me want to retch. "You haven't been owning up to the deal either, honey." She purred, her accent thick. "What are you even talking about? I don't even venture out of my classroom anymore, only to go the the restrooms." I huff, ad pick myself up from the ground. I rub the blood away from my mouth, probably smearing it all over my face. Of course, Damara can't get caught doing this before school hours. "Well, a certain highblood has been following you." I felt my blood freeze. "No one should care, tell them to fuck off." I mumble. She slams me into the lockers again. I cough a little and hear her whisper, "If only it were that simple." Suddenly, I couldn't feel her arms holding me against the locker. I breathe in deeply as I heard whines. She talked in her foreign language to the person, probably cussing them out, and left, leaving the mysterious highblood and me alone. "What the ever loving fuck, man?" I say. I fumble around for my cane again, and again I felt their hand on the handle. I wrench it from my grip. "Can't you see I was happy being ignored? Who even are you?" The person seemed to shift uncomfortably. "Well, you're not Cronus, he doesn't even come near me after Damara seduced him," I ponder. "And Meenah is with her as well." I feel around to find the person's chest. "Also you're not female," I add, trying to make the person more uncomfortable, and succeeding. May they'll go away. "So you must be the stone clown's brother. Kurloz." I feel him tense up as I place my hand on his lips. I know that sounds awkward or whatever, but my estimation was true, once I felt the stitches on his mouth. I've heard he did that after an accident with Meulin. This whole shitty place called school is just a mess of kids with disabilities, and I happened to be one of the students. Hooray. "Nice to finally meet the person who's been following me around." I say sourly. "I don't need your damned pity, and I was making it all fine on my own without my personal stalker." I heard the ruffle of his hair, him shaking his head. No? "You think I can't make another year here?" I laugh dryly. "Well, I guess you're just as bad as the rest of the group. Fuck off, Kurloz. I don't need your help or your pity." I shoot the bird of where I think he was and walked off, bruise on my cheek and cane in my hand. I don't need anyone.

It's been a few weeks and the beatings haven't stopped, which means Kurloz was still following me. "What does he see in you?" I heard Damara hiss. I shrugged my shoulders. I don't know. I don't know and I don't care, I want him to stop following me! When he tries to help, he just gets me more hurt! He's going to start getting beat too, no matter the blood caste that the trolls talk about. It's all about the social caste now. I walk off the pain, only the slight clicks from the bottom of my cane echoing in the empty hall. I couldn't hear his footsteps. Good. I mean, he never helped me when Damara was there, only after to help with the blood and wounds. He was there for me, but never there, if you get what I mean. I just can't be near him without hurting myself and possibly hurting him. I sigh as I walk cautiously. I heard the faint sounds of a stringed instrument. I lurch forward an walk to the sound. What is there to lose?

The guitar rang through just for a few minutes before the cello rang loudly. I had opened the classroom door to hear it louder. Whoever was playing it couldn't hear me. It was the Leonard Cohen song. Hallelujah. I felt myself hunch over, as if being punched in the gut. It was such a lovely song. 

The chorus came and I felt tears come out of my eyes, my eyes that couldn't see the instrument or the player that was making me feel this way. I want to punch something, I don't want to feel weak like this! I sat on the ground, my face perched on top of my knees. I listened, I listened as the cellist made the music go higher and lower and slow. I felt tears burn my eyes again and I wipe them away. They began again, obviously practicing. But for what? Band doesn't use a cellist, not from what I've heard. They were just here to play. I stand back up as the person hit the higher notes, making me cry harder. I don't want to be like this, but this music somehow made me shrink into tears. I'm so used to hearing harsher music, so used to hearing harsh words that always got me thrown around like a rag doll! So used to not seeing the facial expressions of the person. I growl a little and I heard the cellist stop playing. "I don't understand," I heard myself say in a low voice. "I don't understand who you, out of all people at this school can make that. Who are you?" I heard my voice break at the question. I asked that of Kurloz, and now he follows me. I heard the person put his instrument back in its case and the pause of the continuous background. They rushed towards me and I stepped back as their footsteps became louder. "No, don't come near me!" I say loudly. "I don't need you getting hurt from me too!" My arm got pulled away from me and I wanted to put my hand back in its pocket. I felt their strong hand lead mine up to their face. I felt the familiar stitches again. "Kurloz?" I half whisper, half say. I felt tears flow out more than I thought I could ever have and my face heats up. "God damn it all, why do you do this?" I yell. I wrap my arms around myself. "You make me fall, you make me need you after Damara appears, and you make me fall apart after one stupid song!" I hunch over and try to find the doorknob. He grabs my hand again, but I wriggle out of it. "No! Can't you see?" I demanded. "I am toxic because I can't!" I felt a heave of word vomit come up. "I won't be able to get out of here without people, is that what you want to hear? Is that what you wanted me to say? Fine! I need people, but I can't have people here to help me unless they feel like getting hurt!" I scream out. "That guilt is on me! If they get hurt, it's on me! If I ask for help, and they do anything to stop her, it's on me!" I felt myself break down. Kurloz wrapped his arms around me and I leaned into his shoulder. "I just don't want someone to be hurt because of my own problem. It's nobody else's. Why do you bother to help?" I ask a bit hopelessly. "I'm just another kid who can't help herself." I felt my stance shift, along with his. He made my face go up, his hand on my cheek. With one of his hands, the once that wasn't holding my face, he wiped off the tears. He seemed to be getting closer, I could feel the air coming out of his nostrils. 

Then I heard him.

I heard the mute boy talk. 

"Can't you see that I help you because I can't stand seeing you like this?" 

I heard him in my head. As clear as day, I heard him say those words in a gruff voice, echoing slightly. "I can't see, Kurloz." I mumble. I felt him sigh through his nose and I felt cold wire and soft lips on mine. I kissed him back, my hands making it up to his neck and his on my face and around my waist. I felt his forehead on mine when we broke away. "I can't have this," I say. "I'll hurt you, well, I won't, but Damara will." I felt him shake his head and he kissed my cheek softly. "As long as I am here with you, I don't care."

"I want you to be able to hear me, the way I can see you."