An Empty Space

(writing tip: inside an abandoned warehouse)

Laurence kicked the bucket hard so it rumbled violently across the floor of the abandoned warehouse. It had been one of those days. He hadn't done anything. They just sort of saw him on the first day and for some reason they chose him. In spite of his protests, his parents had talked to his teachers and the bullies' parents, but nothing seemed to change. He looked up on the dusty sign on the wall. 'Greystone Enterprise' the sun bleached letters said. They would never be able to afford him transferring schools now, so he'd decided to just keep his head down and not tell his parents that things were only getting worse. He didn't want to trouble them anymore than they already were. He was alone in this and no one seemed to be able to help so why cry out for help?

He found himself standing in the middle of the warehouse with meters and meters of free space around him. Everything seemed like such a cluster. Even his own body had become a prison. His hoodie would cover his low hung head and he never stood up straight anymore. He avoided eye contact with people.

And now he stood here. Alone. He put his shoulders back and looked up for the first time all day. He had no idea what to do. Everything seemed so unfair and he felt helpless. He knew he might be a little different from most people but he hadn't done anything, so why was this happening to him? He'd never hurt anybody. He'd 'practised kindness' like he'd always been told to do, but if kindness gets you nowhere, then why the hell play nice? He felt the rage starting building up in his stomach. His breathing got quicker and he started pacing faster around the empty space like a tiger in a cage. He was so sick and tired of his situation, of feeling helpless, of not fighting back, of always turning the other cheek. But why didn't he have the courage to say something? Why had his parents never taught him to fight back? The rage had branched out to his entire body when suddenly somebody spoke.

'Hey loner!'

Laurence flinched. Nobody ever came here anymore. And it wasn't one of his family member's voices. He turned around. 'Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.' It was the new boy Ben standing in the doorway. He was grinning. Why was he grinning?

'No, no that's okay. It's just nobody, ehm, nobody ever comes here but me anymore.' Laurence looked down.

'Yeah, I'm sorry. Your parents let me know you might be here. Can I enter your court? Looked like you were having a moment.' Ben laughed and ran a hand through his dark brown hair.

'Ha... Of course. ' Laurence replied. He felt the anger slowly leave his body. The two boys approached each other. 'Why are you here?' Laurence continued.

'Well, you kind of stormed out of class before Mr. Boughton could tell you, but we have to work together on the English paper. So I thought I'd just come by with the papers we were given and maybe brainstorm with you? If you have the time of course.'

Laurence looked down and asked: 'Did you tell my parents I stormed off?' Ben smiled at him. 'No, I just said we'd agreed on working on the paper today and that I thought you might've forgotten about it.'

'Thank you.'

'No problem.'

Ben still had that grin on his face: 'So...' 'Yeah?' Laurence looked up. 'Oh, great! You actually have eyes!' Ben joked. 'So... what?' Laurence asked. 'Oh yeah, so do you have time to work on the paper?' Ben replied. 'Yeah, I wasn't getting much done here anyway. Let's go to the house.' Laurence quickly pointed towards the house, encouraging Ben to follow him. 'Nah, you had some thinking to do. I know what that's like, man.' Ben said as he caught up with Laurence. AND ALL WAS BLISS UNTIL THE ALIENS ATTACKED.