It Began With a Text

Prologue

     It began at the corner of a highway, empty save for one individual.

     The child was scared. More scared than he had ever been in his entire life. Hours had passed and his mind was beginning to assume the worst.

     Too young to go through any of this, all he wanted to do was cry. He definitely could, nobody was around to see and judge him. But still, he was too embarrassed.

     Instead, he resorted to putting his head in his hands and tuning out everything around him. All he could see was darkness, he would stay there until someone could come and save him. But who would come?

     He couldn't really hear anything, that was how numb he was. That was why he never heard the approaching footsteps, not stopping until they were right in front of him. He didn't feel the bristle of a paper airplane sweeping against his arm before falling to the ground next to him.

     He didn't really notice anything until the words came next. Words that he couldn't ignore.

      "Hey, what are you doing here all alone?"

     The child slowly looked up. He didn't notice his body was trembling until now.

     But soon, those trembles would stop.

     It began in the crowded middle school hallways.

     The teenager was sitting in the hallways during lunch, in his usual spot. All he wanted to do was finish his lunch quickly and get back to studying. But the world was unfair sometimes.

     He wasn't alone this time. In front of him were three boys, standing up, as if looking down on him suddenly made them look cooler. The words of two of them all blended together in the teenager's head.

     He's nobody.

     Are you REALLY going to invite him?

     Why bother with him?

     There are so many better people than this loser.

     The teenager didn't react. He was used to this, all their words just went through one ear and out the other. It was frustrating though. Didn't they have better things to do? Apparently not.

     He resorted to simply waiting it out. Soon, they would get bored of using him as a punching bag and walk away.

     But that didn't happen. Instead, the teenager heard something else. Something that he had never heard before, something he never believed he would ever hear.

     "I don't think he's a loser"

     It began in a classroom.

     The bell rang and all the elementary school kids ran excitedly into the classroom, ready to begin their group project.

     One boy was a little more nervous. He was a shy person in general, he always got so nervous around others. It would be better if he had been paired up with one of those loud kids in his class, so he wouldn't have to worry about starting conversations.

     But no, he didn't have this luxury this time. Instead, he sat down next to an older classmate, a very peculiar classmate. The classmate that nobody bothered to approach, the classmate who, in all honesty, gave a chill that scared the young boy against his will.

     As the boy sat down at his desk, trying to ease his nerves, nobody could have been able to convince him that this chance pairing would, in fact, change his life.

     He would never have believed that behind the cold eyes and frown of his partner, lay a warm, gentle heart, ready to give a true friendship.

     It began in a riot.

     The older boy stood speechless in the midst of a crowd. Sirens blared in the alley and a knife could cut the tension. The boy tried to stand up straight to see past the heads in front of him, but it was to no avail.

     After what seemed like forever, people finally exited the crowd, bored of the spectacle, disapproval on all their lips. The boy finally got to see the commotion. 

     What he saw made his heart drop.

     A police officer harshly questioning an individual. Not just any individual. Another boy, probably fresh into high school. He was frozen stiff in the presence of the officer and he desperately tried to get a word in.

     He was scared, he was distressed. But most importantly...

     He was innocent.

     The boy in the crowd wanted his legs to move so badly. He wanted to scream, to say anything to prove his voice could work. 

     He knew the truth, he knew what had really happened. The key to resolving this situation, to help that poor boy, it was all in his hands.

     Suddenly, he felt a nudge. It was one of his friends.

     "Let's get out of here, are you crazy!? Come on, before they start to suspect us!"

     His friend ran ahead. The boy was left standing in the middle of two crossroads, his eyes alternating between the police car and the opposite direction.

     To his horror, he felt his legs run in the opposite direction, the words he had the power to say stuck in his mouth.

     The last thing he saw before disappearing into the opposite alley, was the police officer gesturing the other boy into the car. The boy obeyed, but he looks so confused, so desperate.

     The last thing he saw before running away was a life getting ruined. A life he could have saved.

     But he never did.

     Various times passed for all these individuals. Various hardships and experiences had changed them all, possibly leaving a scar. For a lot of them, it felt like everything had ended.

     But then it began again. It began with the mistake of a scatterbrained individual. A simple case of forgetfulness.

     And so, it began with a text.