1.

The morning alarm rings, Judy turns onto her left side and turns too far over, for she lunges rather than rolls and falls out of bed to end up flat on her face on the bedroom floor. There is a slight delay, a hazy waking delayed reaction before a grown is released and followed by a slowly spoken 'ouch'.

Not a nice way to begin the day though since when did nice ever have anything to do with anything. She'd almost settle for staying a while longer right where she is on the floor if it weren't for the fact that the alarm still rings out.

Once up and having turned off that alarm, Judy begins to drag herself out of her room and across the short hallway one step at a time, as if it were a task being performed with great difficulty. Her posture is slouched, her eyes are barely open, and her long blonde hair is a mess, lifting a little upwards then down over her face.

'Ugh ...' she speaks sounding every ounce of how she feels, '... the effort.'

Her legs and feet almost refuse to take her out of her room and down the short hallway to that bathroom. If anything, they are more inclined to lead her to walk right into something, a wall perhaps or a closet, rather than take her where she needs to go. It is yet another day in the life of the desolate and it all feels anything but good.

'You up honey?' calls out mum from downstairs.

'Yeah' Judy replies with the same dreariness with which she spoke the earlier 'ouch' and 'ugh' and at that, it will be a good ten minutes or so before she makes her way down to the kitchen.

Hardly a word is spoken all during breakfast and what words are spoken mostly are spoken by mom.

'C'mon honey, it's not that bad' speaks mum.

Judy hardly even acknowledges the fact that any words had been spoken at all. To her it is not all that bad, it is much worse than that. Mum, what does she know? New town, new school, no friends, no nothing, it has been tough, and it is difficult to settle in at the best of times, Judy knows it all is necessary and she has to do the best she can with what she has.

'You know you can talk to me about anything right?'

'I know ...'

Mum has that way about her; sure, many a mum does. She always appears pleasant despite all which has come before; things have been tough for her too. She is always positive or at least tries to be and sometimes that positivity is infectious even in moments when Judy finds it difficult to feel positive about anything.

***

Just another day, same as any other day, Judy sits alone in the school canteen on her lunch break feeling as if she were invisible to the world. Weekdays, Monday to Friday she would go almost completely unnoticed, attention was hardly ever paid to her and if it was then it would just be some sort of snide remark, a remark that would make her wish that she indeed was invisible.

Evenings and weekends would be no different. Judy felt as alone as any teenage girl could feel. For once, she would love for this to change. For once, she would love to feel present in the world. For once, she would love to feel alive, feel visible. If she wants it badly enough, if she wishes hard enough, she might just find her rightful place in the universe.

Looking around on such a lunch break on one Thursday afternoon in particular and as she would eat, or at least try force herself to eat something, she would sit and watch the world around her pass her by. The place itself may be somewhere new to her, but it is just the same as anywhere else like this she may come to be.

The popular crowd would gather together in one spot, the not so popular crowd would gather together in another. Judy belonged to neither; she never had and most likely never would. She belonged to no group, she belonged to nowhere and to nothing. She was so out there and so alone that she didn't even fit in with the not so popular crowd; the not so popular crowd at least had each other.

The athletically inclined would appear to be unable to stand still for more than two seconds at a time to notice a young girl in emotional distress, not that they'd stop and say hello if they did. They, the athletic crowd, constantly would be running, not walking or were always busy participating in their particular sport of choice.

The intellectuals always appeared up for a challenge, constantly searching for mental stimulation, whether that be through study groups, debate groups or participating in games of strategy. They would have no interest in a quiet lonely girl sitting by herself unless she had something she could bring to the table. Even if she did then that just might be one table with which Judy may not want to sit at, at all.

Not to put Judy down or anything, as she is as intelligent as any fifteen-year-old can be, but she does actually have interests of her own and there are other things she could be doing or would like to be doing but then again, there is that saying, 'beggars can't be choosers'.

There are the cheerleaders too and they would be cheerleaders twenty-four seven and when they weren't busy practicing their routines, they would be busy being beautiful, arrogantly beautiful. Judy would see the looks those cheerleaders would get from the boys, all the kinds of boys, looks that definitely do not come her way. This is a shame really as Judy does not realize just how pretty she actually is.

The boys, huh, none of them would be silly enough to even say hi to her let alone notice that she was even there at all. Taking in a deep breath with the thoughts of that and letting out a sigh would do little to aid Judy with how she felt. If anything, it actually made her feel worse.

She definitely didn't belong to anywhere. Then again, she was the new girl, she is the new girl. That does not matter though. She has seen it all before, been through it all before. Still, it would be nice to be part of something, anything ... well maybe not quite anything.

Given the choice and if it came down to it, there would be a number of things she would not be willing to do. Keeping to herself is what she does best, that however is something she does not want to do, and it is something she cannot do forever.

From here on in there could be only one thing for Judy to do, one thing may let her feel as if she is fitting in somewhere. She would go lose herself in a world of her own, and this particular day would be the perfect day for such a thing to begin. After only half finishing the sad pathetic lunch she had with her, Judy would head to the school library to pick out a book at random to read. Yeah, this was something she could do, and possible even enjoy too.

This random read, if she can find one to do the job, is meant to be no more than a distraction, a momentary trip away from the mundane and the pain of all that is life ... her life. It may take her away and it may do so in a way she could never be able to consider. It may just come with the one and only key that can open the door to something much brighter, and darker too, a key that can see to her safe return, this key she will find is more within the library rather than within the read.

Maybe the read is the door to which the key opens, the destination, and to make any return home one must first ... leave and want to leave at that.

Strangeness is taking a hold on this day, a strangeness that Judy does not see, and it would be as if this strangeness is about to claim her. In a way it has already claimed the school library as the center place for said strangeness. She wouldn't dally or linger too long on making a reading choice, nah that could only lend itself to attracting unwanted attention her way, or would it? No one ever sees the invisible girl. Stranger things do happen. As far as a read goes, if something were to call out to her then she would take out that book and give it a gander.