Dusk Town

Chapter One

"Everyone carries a shadow and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. If an inferiority is conscious, one always has a chance to correct it."

Carl G. Jung

~~~

I have always wondered what it would feel like if I met myself among this crowd of people. Would I like myself? Would I notice the sadness in my eyes? My cold desperation to get by with every day? There seems to be a lot of people today compare to a normal day. Some of them I haven't seen in a while probably because they skipped the whole semester and only here for today to make amends with the professors they managed to become a headache. Today is the last day of the semester and tomorrow starts our summer break. Sounds fun, right? Not for me.

Stupid weirdo.

Someone said as I bumped into her shoulders because of how cramped the corridor is. Even if I don't want to walk closer to someone than how I normally would, I have no other choice or else I can't get in time on our meeting place. I am already half an hour late and I am quite sure she's cursing me right now. Oh yeah and being called a weirdo is an ordinary thing for me now. It became a nickname more than an insult. It's as if they are all programmed to think that I am an eccentric person except for some who managed to have their own opinion about me. Those person are also called strange too just because they don't think the same way most students would think about me.

Strange that it's raining really hard today and it's been sunny the whole week. I bring out my umbrella as I exited the Galilei Building. I walked passed the Jung Building where I felt most like no one is watching my every move. I am going to miss the silent yet accepting hallways. Maybe it's because people who went here are studying human behavior and they are less judgmental than the average student.

I ran towards the vending machine near the gymnasium. It sells banana milk, protein shakes, energy drinks, coffee, fruit juice and of course water. It pretty much have everything an athlete needs for their protein diet. I reached for the back pocket of my jeans to get some money and clicked the banana milk. I sipped every last drop of it and I didn't regret any of that even if I know I'm going to spend some time in the bathroom later.

I continue walking towards the abandoned building that became our secret meeting place. I caught a glimpse of myself in the puddle and begin to wonder who is this person in front of me? I can't recognize myself anymore. I have become the mask I always put on in front of everyone. I lost my identity since the day I dyed my hair brown. Everything changed around me including what used to be a normal day. I grew tired from complaining so I just pretend that everything is alright.

As I make my way to the stairs, I realized how much cleaning this building desperately needs. When I reached the rooftop, I saw the girl with pretty blonde hair waving her middle finger at me. Her name is Sky.

"You're late! Have you lost your presence of mind again, weirdo? What took you so long?"

"It's none of your business, dumb blonde."

"You are very much aware that I am not a 'dumb blonde'. Don't make me slap you with my complete collection of encyclopedia!"

We both laughed at our stupid banter. Who would have thought that these two kinds of people will become friends? Well Sky and I have a little secret. A rooftop from an abandoned building became our own sanctuary. I found it first during our freshmen year and then she started showing up a year after that. She tried to own it but I told her I was the first to claim it. It took her long enough to accept it but in the end she decided to cooperate with me. We even have our own old wooden chair where we usually talk about anything. We knew that no one will come here because other students find it really creepy just to walk past the building. Besides we can't let other people know we're friends.