Mom looked up as I entered the kitchen in my pajamas. She was holding a mug that had what smelled like coffee and took a long sip. When she placed it on the counter, she smiled and said, "Morning, Dear. How'd you sleep? Is your stomach okay?"

I rubbed my eyes for any signs of leftover crust. "Good morning, I slept well." I strained to say between yawning, "Mhm, I feel better after sleeping." And eating words.

"That's great! I thought you had a stomach virus." She then walked to the cabinet to fetch a box of cereal before grabbing a spoon and bowl. Heading to the fridge, she took out a half full gallon of milk. "I'll make you some cereal. There's bread in the toaster as well, if that doesn't fill you up."

I nodded in response as I sat in the stool that faced the empty glass bowl. "Thank you."

"No problem! I was going to cook pancakes but I'm running a little late so this is the least I can do. I'll make them tomorrow."

I was glad that she didn't though, because I was starting to realize that my stomach was against digesting normal food ever since that day. "That's fine, I like cereal. Are you sure that I can have the toast, though? Eating in front of you doesn't sit well with me."

Her white hair swayed as she shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I'm getting a breakfast sandwich at Wawa." She then poured the Crunchies cereal in my bowl before adding milk to it.

I nodded while swirling the cereal around with the silver spoon distractedly. If I ate this, what would happen to me? Would it be just like before when I ate the velvet cake?

I looked down at the bowl of cereal that stood before me with unease. My stomach felt much better after eating my English notes, making me wonder how any of this was real. Before I saw my words go in my mouth for the first time, I could eat food without a problem. But now... why was my stomach acting like this?

As far as I knew, I was never allergic to anything. What was going on with my body? Could it have been the words that made my stomach hurt? That sounded unlikely, because even though I didn't feel full even after I had such a filling meal, my hunger was sated the moment I ate my words.

Resting my head in my hands, I closed my eyes and sighed. This was getting more and more complicated. I couldn't simply pass this off as a hallucination because after that day no one could read my handwriting. The reality of this was starting to sink in. I wouldn't be able to write essays.

That... that would be a serious problem. Though, I could just type it on my laptop. But what about notes? Homework? Presentations? Tests? What was going to happen to my academic record?

It was then that I came to the realization of how much of my life would be affected by this phenomenon. How long would this last? For the rest of my life? Writing was an absolute necessity in anyone's daily life. Why was it taken away from me? What had I done to deserve this? It didn't make any sense. None of it did, really.

I tightened my fists in my lap out of frustration. I hated not understanding something. Knowing that this wasn't normal only deepened my hatred. Even after scouring through the internet for any signs of a solution, nothing could be found no matter how many hours I spent looking.

All weekend I desperately searched only to have fruitless results. I was beyond exhausted from constantly skimming through book pages and exploring the endless internet. Now I simply accepted my fate- or at least, tried to.

The bowl of assorted sugary goodness that I had once upon a time adored devouring looked unappetizing to me now. I didn't want to eat because I noticed that that was the reason why I was getting sick. However, if I didn't eat then Mom and Dad would start to get worried about my health.

So I ignored my unease and put a spoonful of the Crunchies in my mouth while Mom was rushing to get ready for work after drinking her morning coffee. The sweet taste of the milk combined with the large amounts of wheat squares that were laced with cinnamon invaded my tongue when I swallowed.

The moment I felt the cereal go down my throat, my stomach ached. It seemed like it knew what I truly desired, and wouldn't stand for anything else. I clenched my sides and winced in hopes of making the tight knots disappear, but it only became worse. Despite my underlying desire to eat words, I forced myself to endure the pain. Because there was still a part of me that longed to be normal.

With that thought in mind, I headed off to school. The day somehow went by in a daze; I couldn't focus on anything except how much my words hated to be on paper.

By the time I snapped out of my trance, it was already lunch time. I frowned at the words swirling around me. My eyes scanned the hall until they landed on Abigail, surrounded by friends. I didn't want to bother her, so I sat at a nearby table and took my lunch out.

Chicken, green peas and potatoes.

The meal smelled delicious, giving off an equally appetizing smell after I microwaved it. But I had doubts. What if I got sick again? Should I eat the words with my food? Instead of taking the chance, I pushed the box away. I was pushing the lid on when a loud person's voice seemed to be growing closer to where I was sitting.

I ignored it at first, instead focusing my attention onto the worn out biology book from my collection when a boy from class called my name.

"Hey, Ziv?" I recognized his voice as Kyle, the kid who occasionally harassed me for reasons I couldn't comprehend.

I looked over to the boy that stood before me with slight annoyance at the sudden disturbance. "Yes?"

He leaned down, covering the page of the textbook I was reading with his large hands and smirked maliciously. "Why do you look so weird?"

I decided to take the scientific route and laughed. "Do you mean my albinism? Well, if you look closely you can observe that my irises have lavender-grey hues. That is because of the lack of color within my eyes, which makes it a little difficult to see." I widened my eyes to give him a better view. "My skin appears to be white for the same reason. The folate and melanin in my body are―"

A loud sigh interrupted my sentence. "Y'know, this is why no one wants to hang out with you. You love to make yourself look smart, acting like you know everything. It's annoying." The boy then poked my head rather roughly, almost making me lose my balance. "On top of that, you're too much of a freak to look at."

I could feel strands of my hair fall over my shoulders, so I pushed them back. My body lightly trembled in confused sadness. Even so, I ignored him and brushed his hand away from my possession.

"Could you please stop bothering me?" I asked, slightly ticked off by the audacity he had to insult my intelligence and physical appearance. "I'm reading." I couldn't understand why he was talking to me in the first place if he didn't like me.

He raised his eyebrows in amusement, as if my reaction to his antics were the best part of the day for him. Kyle then smirked down at me. "Don't get carried away just because you know a lot! I bet you're always looking down on everyone!"

I blinked at him in puzzlement. "I'm not sure what you're talking about. Could you explain it more in depth? When have I ever appeared to be looking down on anyone? Can you provide an example?"

"You're doing it right now, stupid! Always speaking in that proper ass tone when you're only in middle school. Why can't you be normal?!"

My heart sunk, and I froze. I hadn't even noticed what I was doing until now. The ketchup-covered french fries that I had been eating during our conversation were starting to affect my stomach. In addition to that, I hadn't eaten any words, so I was beyond starving. It had completely slipped my mind!

I looked down into my lap where my folded hands rested when I felt my eyes moisten. Just then, I felt the abrupt sensation of words brushing against my tongue as the knowledge held within them flooded into my mind.

"Normal?" I muttered, pondering the definition of the odd word. I then sniffed and wiped my eyes with a nearby napkin before gazing at him. "I can't be normal anymore."

His face contorted into an expression of confusion and shock, as he had never seen me cry no matter how much he had bothered me before. It was always me silently acknowledging his distaste for me for whatever reason and him shouting insults whenever he had the chance.

I was too distracted by the thought of never being able to eat food normally to hear what he had said afterwards. I would instead be forced to eat my written words and store their history into my small brain. It was overwhelming and scary, and I didn't want to live like this. I just wanted to be normal. But if I wasn't normal, then what exactly was I?

I stood after gathering my things to head to class and smiled despite my inner grief.

"You're right, Kyle. I guess I really am a freak." After all, what normal person ate words?

He knitted his eyebrows, then turned away. After I sniffed, he mumbled something else before leaving.

I wasn't even sure how I ended up like this. If he thought I wasn't normal now, I didn't want to imagine what would happen if he knew about my special problem.

Abigail glanced at me to see if I was okay, then glared at Kyle's stiffening figure. "You need me to beat him up?"

"No, it's fine." He's right. Once I packed my things away, I sighed just as the bell ring. "See you later, Abi. I've got science next."

She scrunched up her nose in disgust before pulling her back over her shoulder. "Ew, good luck."

I smiled. "You too."

We walked out the cafeteria together before going our separate ways. Her to art and me to science.

In the back of my mind, I wondered if my lab partner would be here today. She always skipped this class, which meant I had to fluctuate between groups. I headed to my assigned seat when I arrived.

"Hello class." Mr. Johnson, a tall light-skinned man with wavy black hair greeted. "Today's objective is to observe the conductivity of starch. In other words, we're going to power lightbulbs with potatoes. Anyone mind passing these out?"

A number of hands rose, but only one could be the winner. "Uh, Jeremy's hand was first. Here ya go." He handed the pile of worksheets to a blonde boy.

While he passed back the papers, I took out a notebook. Mr. Johnson was already muttering about positive and negative charges, and I didn't want to miss anything important. So I spent the next few minutes jotting down whatever I could, then watching it float up to the collection of words above me.

When Jeremy finished passing them out, I glanced beside me. Once again, my partner was nowhere to be seen. Hopefully she's passing this class.

Suddenly, a knock interrupted us. The door opened to reveal a girl clad iin jeans and t-shirt. "Sorry I'm late," she wheezed between catching her breath.

Mr. Johnson adjusted his blue checkered tie. "A minute later and you would've gotten locked out."

She laughed, then headed to her assigned seat. Apparently that was next to mine. "Hi, I'm Sophie."

"Z-Ziva Kritikos." I shook the hand she offered, then returned my attention to the class until we had to start our lab. At first things were going well, but worry eventually intruded my thoughts.

The previously written science notes of mine were currently hovering behind me. It seemed as if they were waiting for me to digest my other words before entering my mouth. I simply ignored them and turned to my lab partner. "Um, Sophie?" I said, unsure if that was her name.

The girl had what looked like an endless labyrinth of brown curls that barely touched the center of her back. She glanced over to me and smiled. "Yeah?"

"Are you sure we're doing this the right way?" We were currently using a potato to ignite a lightbulb. I didn't believe it was possible until I noticed the illuminant flicker of lights that appeared at other tables.

Sophie was holding the potato in her hands and sticking the wires that were attached to it at the head of the light bulb. I looked up at the board to examine the instructions that Mister Johnson had written out for us to follow just to make sure we were doing it right.

I watched Sophie place the starch back onto the tray and sigh in disappointment. "It's not working! We followed the instructions just like he said!"

"Well, maybe we did something incorrectly." I reached for the worksheet that was laying in front of us and skimmed over the directions. "Hmm, we put the pennies inside of the potato after cutting it in half, wrapped the pennies in copper wire before that, oh! We didn't wrap the copper around the zinc-plated nails!"

Sophie squealed in excitement after our experiment turned out to be a success. "Alright, awesome!" I helped her answer some of the questions on the worksheet before she handed Mr. Johnson the completed paper with triumph in her step.

The rest of the class was spent discussing the chemistry involved in the experiment and the teacher giving a brief overview of what we would be doing the next day. After that, he let us chat amongst ourselves. Abigail wasn't in class that day, so I decided to communicate with Sophie to relinquish my boredom.

Sophie looked at me and smiled brightly. "Where are you from?" She seemed to be interested in me for who I was instead of what I looked like. That was a good start.

"Well, my Mom's from Greece, so that's where my name came from. I was born here after she met Dad at college."

"Oh, so your name's Greek?"

"No, it's actually Hebrew. But they felt that it fit at the time because I was premature by a few months." I smiled at the memory of Mom telling me the tale of my birth when I was younger. "They didn't think that I would survive because of that, as well as my albinism. So they were really happy that I was able to live."

I continued, "I was like the 'ray of hope' in their lives. Hence my name. It's also ironic that 'Ziv' was the name of the second month on the Jewish calendar during... Ah, sorry. I'm probably boring you aren't I? No one's ever interested in the Jews."

She waved her hand to brush away my worries. "No, don't worry. I'm interested because I like learning about different cultures."

My eyes widened with interest. "Really?! That's wonderful! I have some books at home about globalized culture; do you want me to bring them to school tomorrow?"

"Oh, sure! That'd be great!" I could feel the joy emitting from her when I brought up literature; a reaction that was never given to me by Abigail. She was always reluctant to read the books that I recommended to her, never taking me for my word when I said that they were easy for her to understand. It was nice to talk to someone who at least read about a culture other than ours.

I smiled at her enthusiasm. "Alright. You can borrow them for as long as you'd like. I've already read them enough times to memorize the content within each page."

"Yeah, but I'll still give them back. I would hate to keep them from their owner."

I laughed absentmindedly, noticing that the severe pain that resided in my stomach hours earlier had begun to dwindle away the moment my words had burrowed themselves into my stomach. I was still full, even if my food was as empty as air.