Chapter 1 - New Arrival

Hello, my name is Jet Shikim. I am 18 years old, and I am in my last year at Jazz High. I'm not exactly the most popular kid. Well, I'm the least popular actually. People think I'm weird, what do you think? Probably because I see them in a different way than most people do. Okay, all people don't see others the way I do. Literally. Alright, so heres how it goes. My doctors tell me that I have an unheard of eye condition. Think it's funny? Well, it's not. What I see would scare most people, or drive them mad. Need an example? Think of gore. Lots, and lots of gore. That is what I see. Blood and chunks cover everything. Nasty, huh? This makes things very difficult. Also, my ears are kind of fracked up as well. When I hear talking, the only thing I can make out is screams. It's as if I had been blessed by the devil himself to see and hear nothing but endless torment. It wasn't always this way, though. It has only been this way for three years. Before, I had a normal life. I got good grades, had a lot of friends. Then all of a sudden, I was hit by a, whaddya know? An unheard of disease that has no known cure, of course. I consider myself the most unlucky person of my time. In America, anyway. Right now, I'm just getting up. take off my clothes, get in the shower, brush my teeth, all that. After I managed to get my clothes on, a blue t-shirt, and dark blue jeans, I hear a knock on my door. Probably a neighbor from the apartment building I live in. "One minute!" I yell. I grab my backpack, and special hearing-aids I was given to tone-down the screams. It helps. Sort of... I can make out what people say and normal sounds at least. I answer the door to find my friend Layla Lyune waiting for me. She's pretty as ever, long white silky hair, deep olive eyes, perfect curves. Or at least, that's what I remember of her. Now, it's kind of hard to tell. But she lets me feel her body every now and then to get an idea. No, not in that way. It's almost like being blind, but several times worse. I can hear her snapping all of a sudden. A sharp sound followed by hundreds of echoes.
"Jet? Jet, are you listening?" She says, grabbing my chin and pointing my face to hers. "Are we going now, or are you going to space out again?" Now she sounds somewhat irritated.
"Yes, yes, let's go." My voice is the only thing that sounds normal. A few hundred steps later, we're getting closer to the school. Cars pass by us, howling like a banshee. If it weren't for the hearing-aids, it probably would burn my ears out.
"So, as I was saying Jet, we should do more things together. I'm thinking, like a deeper relationship." This brings me back to reality.
"What? You actually want to go out?" I say in a state of shock. I knew she had actually wanted this for a while. It was becoming more intimate by the week. So, an unlucky guy like me, and a beautiful girl like her? Sounds like a fairytail cliché to me.
"Yes. Is that a problem?" Her voice was hard to make out, but it sounded confident.
"Um, are you sure about this? I mean, I'm the most unpopular guy in school, thanks to my "Condition", and you're one of the most popular, thanks to your looks. What would people think?"
"I think it sounds good. It might make people hate you less." This was starting to sound like a joke.
"They hate me because I'm different. Nothing's going to change except for some sort of miracle cure. You know that."
"Well, I tried. But really, I like you. A lot. And I would really like it if you accepted me in your life." Even though I already knew this, I felt uneasy. Like she was taking it too fast, but she wasn't. I couldn't do this now, maybe later.
"I.... I don't know," I said. "I have to think this over." We had already arrived at the school by the time I had said that. Walking corpses surrounded me. Three bloody figures approached us, and pushed me out of the was as if I didn't exist. I knew these figures. Miss Popular, popular-er, and popular-est.
"Layla, class has almost started, drop the freak and let's go." The one named Nira said. She was miss populer-est. The other two were Miss popular-er, Mina, and Miss popular, Nila. Funny, their names all have an I, and A in the same places. What a strange coincidence.
"Sorry, Jet. I'll see you later." Layla said and ran off with the other two. I sighed and walked to my first-period class, which also served as homeroom. When I sat at my desk, I could make out the snickering and glaring at me coming from all the other students. A few tried tripping me on the way, but I easily avoided that.
"Hey freak, why don't you go to school with the other misfits?" A much larger boy said. He was pretty popular, but he was always trying to hit on Layla. His name was Trey Valentine. And, like most bullies, he was on the highschool football team. Of course his pitiful attempts at dazzling Layla were complete failures. Like most guys who tried to be with her. I bent towards his desk, and tried not to look at him.
"Hey, Trey," I whispered and turned to him. "You know, Layla just asked me out." This angered him, clearly. He stood up and punched me right on the cheekbone.
"Sure, like a girl as beautiful and popular as her would go out with trash like you." I laughed at him.
"You know, people will think you're crazy if you keep talking to yourself like that." He grabbed my collar and readied another punch when the teacher called on him to knock it off and sit down. "fracking loser" He said, sitting back down.
"As you all know, we're expecting a new student today," The teacher said. He waved at the door. A girl with long dark blue hair stepped in in a white spaghetti-strap shirt, and tight light blue pants. Immediately, all the guys stared directly at her like gazing upon an angel. I didn't really care until I noticed she wasn't covered in gore. This suprised me, because I hadn't seen anything besides red and a black for 3 years. "Class, meet Miss Llia Tetsuda." The teacher finished. Some delinquent whistled at her sight.
"Hello. I am Llia Tetsuda. Pleased to meet you all." She bowed. When she looked back up and noticed me. I was clutching my head, trying not to cry.
"Mr. Shikim, is something wrong?" The teacher said. I looked up and shook my head. "Very well then. Miss Tetsuda, you may sit behind Mr. Shikim." The girl nodded and sat behind me. The attention of every guy in the classroom was on her. I could feel they envied me and hated me because no guy was near me. There was all girls around me. Once she was in the chair, she tapped my shoulder.
"Don't worry about him, baby. He's just a freak." Trey said. All the other guys nodded. Llia just shook her head and tapped my shoulder again. I finally turned to her and sighed.
"Yes? How can I help you?" I said, trying not to burst out in tears. The girl simply looked into my eyes for a minute. She broke the stare and said, "Why? Why do they call you a freak?" She seemed sad. I closed my eyes. And took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry, but it's hard to talk about." I said. She layed her hand on my shoulder.
"It can't be that bad." She said.
"He's just a freak! Come over here and talk to a real man!" Another delinquent said.
"Do you really want to know?" I said. She nodded. I sighed again. "I have a special condition." I started.
"What kind of condition?"
"My eyes and ears. It's really depressing."
"I don't mind." She came closer to me and whispered in my ear. "You have no idea what I've been through."
"Alright. All I see is blood and gore. All I hear is screams and howls." I admitted to her. She thought about it for another minute.
"It seems you have it hard. But you sound like a poet."
"I'll take that as a compliment." I finished our conversation.
That was the beginning of a new day for me.

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