1There are exactly two types of girls out there: those that are normal, and those that aren't.
All his life he had only known the normal kind, but when she comes swaying into class that morning he knows right away she is exceptional. Her hair, a flaming mass of red curls, exudes electricity like sparking wires and her eyes see right through him in a second, right through to his very soul, and she says, "Hi, I'm Lindsey, but you can call me Etna," and he doesn't even need to ask why because he knows that as a child someone called her that and the name stuck and he realizes he's never seen anyone who embodies a volcano so well.
She asks him what his name is and he forgets, responding simply that his name isn't important (what could be fitting enough to describe him the way hers describes her?) and she laughs and calls him New Age. And the thought suddenly pops into his head that he hasn't asked anyone to homecoming and before he knows it he's asked her, but before she can answer the bell rings and the teacher begins to call roll. He can't look away from her, not even to pay attention, but somehow he misses what she's doing and suddenly there's a slip of paper in his hand and all it says is YES.
The night of the dance he drives nervously to her house, which is a big white house in a gated community and as he drives through he can't help but think Etna doesn't fit in here because she can't be contained and then he wonders if maybe that's what her parents are trying to do. But he stops thinking about it when he pulls into her driveway and she's at the door before he's even put the car in park. She's dressed in fiery red, just like he knew she'd be before she even told him. It's short and puffy and covered in gold glitter and her nails are long and bright red (fake, obviously, and probably her mother's idea) and her hair is spiky in the back and in the front it's full of a million sparkly clips and she looks all at once juvenile and ancient. She yanks the door open and pulls him out, nearly strangling him on the seatbelt, and suddenly he's indoors, surrounded by flashing cameras and he realizes that the excited squeals are from Etna's mother and he wonders how she feels about this but when he looks over at her she's smiling enigmatically and he knows that if he asks he'll never get an answer. And then she's shoving him into the car and bouncing excitedly in her seat and when he glances at her she confesses she's never had a date to a dance before. And that night while they're dancing to one of those shitty country songs she suddenly leans up and kisses him and she tastes inexplicably like fire and he's never felt so happy in his life.
And for three months that's the way it is. Exciting, exhilarating, the time of his life. She tells him he was wrong on the day they met, that Justin is the perfect name for him, and he tells her Etna is the perfect name for her and suddenly she's telling him about her life and how when she was two her family was on vacation and while they were on Mount Etna her parents lost track of her and when they found her they thought maybe she was a changeling because she was so different.
"And that's why I'm called Etna," she says. "It's a better name than Lindsey, anyway."
And he agrees but he keeps wondering about it and the word changeling sticks in his head and he wonders if maybe it's true, though it would break his heart if someone like her wasn't real.
And it's like she senses his thoughts because a week later her mood is dark and she hardly talks to anyone and even the usually-oblivious teachers wonder if she's all right. And one day while they're in her basement she just erupts— yes, erupts is the word— and she's screaming and hitting him and swearing and throwing things and even though she's tiny and he's twice her size he fears for his life but instead of running (he can't leave her alone) he holds her until everything just quiets into heaving sobs. And then she's telling him about how her parents don't like the way she is and when they say "changeling" she knows they're serious even if they say they're joking. She talks about how no one's ever taken her seriously because she acts like she isn't serious and when he says he takes her seriously she looks up at him and she says "Really?" and he says, "I'm here, aren't I?" and she hugs him tight and says "Yes, you are."
I know, I haven't been on this site in forever. I've had a very busy time.
This piece is for the Review Game's Writing Challenge Contest. The prompt was a picture of Mt. Etna. If you liked this, pop on over there and vote for me! (but read everything else first!)
In case you can't tell, this is entirely different from anything I've ever written before. This is the first time I've gone for a stream of consciousness style of writing, so let me know how it is? Leave a review!
~~Mazzie~~