Ezekiel and Rain used to be childhood friends, they were like brother and sister. But 4 years ago that all changed when his entire family died in a car crash.
That day something within him changed, slowly they began to drift apart. Rain felt like the universe was separating him from the rest of the world. He became colder and seemed just to be drifting along, looking as if he was bored and not paying attention at all moments.
Every conversation Rain had tried to start up with him had been quick, and unmemorable.
In school, everybody avoids him, not due to hate or disgust, it's out of fear. Humans fear the unknown and Ezekiel is the biggest unknown there is.
People don't understand him, he doesn't speak until spoken to and will sometimes spend his entire day in silence. People have followed him and say he spends all his free time practicing different martial arts. People have tried to bully him but that soon ended.
A stupid 17-year-old felt it would be funny to change the expression Ezekiel seemed to always wear, he walked up to Ezekiel and after punching didn't work he changed tactics and stabbed him in the stomach.
Ezekiel's expression never once shifted, he then began to move for the first time and beat the living hell out of the 17-year-old. He was 14 at the time.
Since then nobody bothered to even try to bully him, the forgotten victim was the warning.
Although none bullied or bothered him.
Many have tried to become his friend but they always fail, no matter what they can't convince him to open up or for that matter even have a conversation longer than 2 minutes.
It wasn't always like this, he wasn't always this enigma that seemed out of place wherever he went.
Not many people knew the old Ezekiel but Rain did, she remembers.
They used to play on the beach together, white sand on their feet, the ocean at their fingertips, islands off in the distance, and the sun slowly setting. They were 11 at the time.
The way he looked was different, his hair was lighter, his eyes brighter, and he even laughed. An unthinkable thing for him to do in the present.
The way he talked back then was almost therapeutic for me, his witty remarks and caring attitude, every single piece of him Rain loved.
Then the incident occurred, and he remained alone for an entire week after the incident until suddenly he emerged. He was a different person and she couldn't tell whether he had put on a mask or if he had taken off one.
***
School had finally begun, everybody was talking and preparing for school. Ezekiel finally entered, everybody went quiet, nobody outright stared at him, but everybody's attention sat on him. He slowly walked towards the back and sat there eyes closed.
Nobody bothered him, and after a couple of minutes, everybody had slowly gone back to relaxing. Rain didn't understand why everybody revered Ezekiel and she doesn't think anybody fully understood, all they knew was that he was different.
Rain began to think about the moment everybody truly began to see Ezekiel was unlike others.
It was last year,
Ezekiel hadn't spoken a single word all trip, as his class went on a weekend trip to the Grand Canyon.
They were all in a restaurant chatting when three men with masks slowly entered.
The class was positioned in the corner with a couple of booths to fit us.
The restaurant had a very classic layout with a register at the front, then a large room with tables and chairs covering the floor, with booths along the wall and the kitchen in the back.
The moment the robbers stepped into the room everybody fell into a panic.
They gathered everybody into our area and told us to shut up.
Ezekiel for the first time in years let out a small chuckle, it was faint but the whole class heard, and their heads snapped towards him wondering if they heard correctly.
Ezekiel's eyes snapped open and a small smirk could be seen on his face.
The only words spoken from him were,
"Close your eyes"
In a quiet and ragged voice, those commands spread across the restaurant.
Everybody seemed to instinctually obey, not questioning why.
Slow steps were heard walking away from our class, nobody called out or tried to stop him
A single gunshot was heard, then a thud,
Silence pursued for a couple of seconds that seemed to last forever until another thud was heard and finally a third one.
After a full minute of silence, everybody opened their eyes, and the three men were unconscious.
After that nobody tried to connect with Ezekiel, they just watched him.
***
School finally finished, and once again Rain had failed to regain any form of the old relationship she had with Ezekiel.
She suddenly began to get a feeling that something was going to happen tonight regarding Ezekiel, something big, something that wouldn't bring back the Ezekiel she knew but it would change him once again.
She began walking through the hallways and arriving at the front she glanced to her right and saw Ezekiel.
For the first time in a long time, a look of surprise covered his face, his eyes shining a beautiful blue reflecting the sun a very different sight than his usual dull and almost lifeless eyes.
Rain found herself in a daze staring at him
She was about to call out to him when she noticed where his gaze was pointing.
A girl maybe a year or two older than them was walking across the street seemingly blending in, Rain could barely notice her and if it wasn't for Ezekiel she wouldn't have noticed she was there at all.
Rain couldn't get a clear idea of what she looked like as if her brain was just skipping over the fact she existed.
She glanced back at Ezekiel for a second, he seemed to have decided something and he walked, his pace seemed hurried, it differed from his usual slow and measured steps.
He seemed excited, of course, compared to normal people he still looked cold and uncaring, but Rain could tell something had changed.
And it was that girl
A sense of discomfort began to bubble inside of Rain, a part of her didn't want to let Ezekiel see that girl, she felt she would take him away from her, but in the end, she was too late, before she noticed both Ezekiel and the girl were gone.
All Rain hoped for was for Ezekiel to find something that would help him, cause she could tell he was suffering.