People tended to cluster together in their own groups, always chattering and twittering but only falling silent when the queer individual approached. Only then would they stare at him, their eyes darting, judging his every detail. When he came too close, they recoiled. When he turned his back and left, they gossiped and giggled after him.

The individual was always ignored, always the odd one out. Just like a wrong piece of puzzle that would not fit anywhere no matter how hard it was shoved in. At first he felt -maybe a little- hopeful, but at some point he realized that his hopes will always and forever be crushed. Soon he began to drown in a pitch-black void of melancholy which slowly melted into bitter rage, an anger that boiled like magma, burning his fragile little heart.

How come I'm so different? The question hovered above his head every day, never to be answered nor explained. It buzzed noisily in his ear, prodding the back of his mind, and although his helplessness was so loud in his own world it was inaudible on the outside.

His voice, which he practiced so hard with, was just as mute. It floated uselessly in the air, passing by people's ears, never to heard, never to be noticed in the first place. His voice was lost in an abyss of nothing, and in return stinging words were flung back at his face; unwanted, unloved, forlorn.

Each day that passed by increased the amount of hopelessness that engulfed him. Hatred fed on that feeling and, like a monstrous bug, it chomped his insides away relentlessly. People seemed uglier, more intimidating. He had no choice but to focus on the pain of his flamboyant bleeding arms. Just when he was about to let go, allow death to swallow him whole, he spotted from high up another outcast separated from the crowd.

He had never noticed her before. For he had been too busy focusing on fitting in with the larger groups. When he did, he attempted one last time at this game known as life, and crept in reluctantly to join her empty circle.

Their eyes met.

No words were needed.

They both understood each other, understood everything. Slowly the fear dissolved and was replaced by several other feelings; relief, appreciation, acceptance. Both individuals, who were now not on their own but together, vowed in their minds to save every other being from falling off the cliff of loneliness.