alright ↠ dylan o'brien

one.

This night is flawless, don't you let it go.

  I'm wonder struck. dancing around all alone.

I'll spend forever wondering if you knew,

I was enchanted to meet you.

-Enchanted by Taylor Swift 

Lola

THERE WAS A TIME WHEN I loved the winter. It always made me feel at ease.  I admired how peaceful and pretty and cold it was.

A lot of things have changed. The nightmares that haunt me through the darkness of every night have yet to leave me. The cold bitterness of the season reminds me of those dark moments I had encountered so many years ago.

Wandering through the woods that first day my story began and holding my bruised and throbbing eye, I could feel that everything was about to change. I pulled my hand away from my eye and the cold hit it like a precious wave. I squinted, trying to find my way to--where? I had absolutely no idea. The woods were abandoned, my house long gone, nowhere to be seen.

Trees loomed over me, snow lining the branches of each of them like crows on a bell tower. The cold pricked my skin like a thousand needles. I heard a noise behind me and stumbled through the maze of branches at a quicker pace, my lungs hurting in a way I could never put into words. How long had it been since I left?

I looked back for a split second and saw the same view as I did when I looked forward. I wondered if he was following me; he would have given up ages ago. The sky was darkening. I knew it was only a matter of time before I would have to go back and face him.

I reached a clearing in which there were no looming trees. Instead, I saw something completely different: a train track. I looked over to my right, seeing an interminable path just waiting to be chosen by some lucky person. All of the trees kept appearing everywhere I looked, making my vision blur. The dark green and black of the pine trees laden with snow lined the tracks on both sides, continuing down for miles on end.
    That place would affect me for the rest of my life.

I wished Dave was there. Then I wouldn't have been so alone in such a beautiful place.

*~*~*

Teenagers mocked me as I made my way down the hallway. At least three couples were making out against the blue lockers, either not caring if anyone saw, or trying to attract the jealousy of a specific person. I walked by my peers, unnoticed by keeping my head down. Unfortunately, my eye was obviously a blackish-blue color. I would've liked to minimize the casualties of anyone taking notice of me. People knew what had happened last summer, and that was hard to avoid, but other than that, I was still a Nobody.

The sympathy had long been stopped. It was October. Few still gave me their apologies, though not much could be done from them. The ordeal had blown over, and some only cared when they had to. When they felt obligated to. It didn't bother me much because the less people cared, the less they noticed how much pain there really was.

     Now of course, you're probably wondering what happened last summer. I'll save you my sob story for now and get to that later.

      The hallway was a large congregation of students preparing for the first class of the day. I reached my locker, which was tedious compared to other girls' who had mirrors and celebrity posters hanging from every angle. Mine was just plain. Just blue. My schedule hung right on the inside, and I checked to see which class I had next. English. English was my favorite subject. Grabbing my binder (which was filled with every subject for every day), I closed my locker shut right as the bell rang. Students rushed through the hall to get to their classes, and I did the same. I had to maintain my perfect attendance, didn't I?

I gasped as I bumped into someone, dropped my binder, and felt warm liquid dripping down my white top. I looked down and took notice that it was coffee. It got all over my binder. A large stain covered my shirt and soaked the top of my black leggings. Luckily, the hall had mostly cleared up, so few were there to witness the humiliation.

"I'm so sorry," the boy who had crashed into me mumbled, reaching down to pick up my fallen binder.

I sighed, trying to somehow wipe off the coffee. No luck.

The boy stood up and handed me my binder, giving me a sympathetic look. I had never seen him before; he was definitely new. His skin was slightly tanned, brown hair combed slightly to the left, light brown eyes shining. A strange feeling went through me; a feeling of recognition. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"Really, I am sorry," he said sincerely.

I nodded. "I should probably get to class." I was about to turn around before he started talking again.

"I'm Dylan," he said, putting his hand out for me to shake it.

"Lola," I told him, reluctantly taking his hand and shaking it. Who shook hands anymore?

"First day," Dylan said to me. "I guess I'm not off to a great start."

I nodded and looked around awkwardly, which he seemed to be doing as well. Right before I could, Dylan said, "Well, I should probably get to class, too. Sorry about the coffee, again."

"Sure," I said once again. "I should go too."

"I have English, Mr. Barlen. How about you?" Dylan asked me, turning the opposite direction of the classroom.

"English, too," I muttered, internally sighing. "And you're going the wrong way, just so you know." I started to walk in the direction I was originally going.

Dylan blushed and followed me. No words were spoken during the short walk, making everything awkward for us. Or, I was just making it awkward. I didn't like many people.

But when English class started and Dylan sat right next to me and Ashley Hernetta sat down right on the other side of him, the feeling of recognition I had gotten when I'd first seen Dylan returned.

He looked just like Dave.