Levi Dawling by Finny Dread (electronic reader .txt) 📕

Chapter 1

I walked into the grayish classroom, the only burst of color being him. I sat in my usual seat near the window, bringing out my sketchbook. I didn’t care what the teacher said or did to me. I never cared. My bleach white hair veiled my face from the outside world, my green eyes scanning the classroom.

 

My glasses shined a glare in my eyes and I winced. I suddenly felt a presence, a shadow diving over my sketchbook. I look up to see Mr.Rye staring me down.

 

“Mister Dawling! What is this? Notes? I think not!”

 

“Yeah..T-they’re called d-drawings.”

 

“Get your notebook and take actual notes, this is your last chance!”

 

“O-okay.”

 

I reluctantly pulled out my English notebook, staring at my teacher with spite. I could hear the other kids jeering at my ridiculous existence, laughing endlessly. I felt a ball of embarrassment well up in my stomach.

 

I bowed my head down, creating a shadow with my hair. Why is it that everytime I open my mouth I make a complete fool of myself? I tried to be snappy, but I ended up sounding like a friggen mouse! I mean, it’s one sentence! Maybe I shouldn’t talk at all. I looked up, scanning for anyone who was still looking at me and snickering.

 

He was looking at me, but not laughing. He looked almost sympathetic. I didn’t need sympathy from Isaac, right?

 

Isaac was literally the coolest guy in school, and unconditionally my crush. He always knew what to say to anyone, always knew how to say it. If only he would say those genius words to me.

 

As the teacher continued to drone on about some sort of Shakespeare thing, I scribbled some Homestuck stuff in my notebook. There was barely any notes in there anyway, so what was the point?

 

When I was around in the middle of drawing Eridan, the bell rang for lunch. I heard the teacher say something, but among all of the talking I couldn’t hear him. Probably something about homework.

 

As I half-walked, half-shuffled out of the room, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I look straight down at the persons shoes, trying to guess who it was. You can tell a lot about someone by their shoes.

 

It was Isaac. Of course it was. I bet my speech is gonna be worse than ever now.

 

“Hey, Levi, right?”

 

“Y-yeah..”

 

I could hear my own terrible lisp. Ugh! I’m such an idiot!

 

“I saw you drawing earlier in class today, and well, I may have saw it. You’re good, you know?”

 

“Umm..N-not really..”

 

“Haha, yeah you are. I wish I could draw like that.”

 

“...”

 

“How about you could teach me?”

 

“T-t-teach you?!”

 

“Yeah. Like drawing lessons.”

 

“I-I-I...well…I don’t r-really..s-speak..”

 

“Look, I don’t care about your speech. C’mon! It’ll be fun.”

 

I still couldn’t look him in the eyes, I could never look anyone in the eyes. I continued to look down at the floor. His face was too perfect to be looked at. There was a sudden strip of paper flung in my face.

 

“Here. My phone number. You can type instead of speak, ok?”

 

“O-o-okay.”

 

He suddenly walked off with some of his friends and told them something. They all laughed and said something like ‘seriously?!’. He didn’t laugh, though.

 

I felt my face get warmer. I looked at the strip of paper again. 704-336-8863. Is this some sort of prank number? This has happened to me before.. His friends did laugh.. I stuffed the number into my pocket, hoping not to rip it.

Chapter 2

 

***at lunch***

 

I stared at my food, not hungry. My mind kept revolving back to his phone number. It’s most possibly a prank, right? Is Isaac that kind of person? No.. maybe?

 

I jumped as someone sat across from me. His shirt wasn’t anyone’s I knew, so who was it? I looked into the person’s face for a moment. Just a glance. Oh. Just the new kid from this morning.

 

That morning we had gotten a transfer from almost across the country. He seemed cool, but he obviously didn’t know how to pick his crowd. I’m not really considered ‘cool’.

 

“Hey! It’s hard to find a seat around here, huh?”

 

I nodded my head.

 

“Strange your table was completely deserted.”

 

I shrugged my shoulders.

 

“You don’t talk, do you?”

 

I shook my head. “I-I t-t-try not t-to.”

 

He looked at me with surprise. He looked dumbfounded, actually.

 

“Stutter?”

 

I wrote down on my paper in my sketchbook. It said that I didn’t like to talk about it. I slowly slid it towards him.

 

“Oh. Sorry.”

 

I shrugged my shoulders again. Shrugging shoulders was by far my favorite gesture, considering it wasn’t friendly nor hostile.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry. My name’s Derick.”

 

“I-I know. I’m L-Levi.”

 

“Well, hello Levi.”

 

He smiled at me. I have never really been smiled at unless I’ve been made fun of, but does that really count? I somewhat thought he was mocking me with his stupid smile, but for some reason it made me feel warm.

 

Including my face.

Chapter 3

 

I walked down the sidewalk, twiddling my thumbs. I heard a group of kids laughing together, just having a grand old time. I wished that I had friends like that.

 

I walked into the almost empty house, irritated that I couldn’t use my insane amount of money to get legit friends. As I walked up the stairs, my thoughts gradually moved to Derick. Why? Why am I so complicated?

 

I suddenly saw a flash of black dart across my legs. Demetri. Demetri was my black cat that for some reason, has lived literally forever. She was there when… The burning. Ten years ago, some cruel person  had committed arson on our house.

 

The burning had killed all of my family save for myself, yet I still have the scars to show. Demetri had survived, and I consider her company. How? I have no idea.

I continued up to my room, thinking of the crime yet to be solved. No one cares to close the case. It was arson. And that’s all it’ll ever be. I closed my door, finding my room on the other side.

 

At that moment, I realized that my room barely matches my personality. People say that your living space mirrors yourself, but this room was too bright. The white couch in the middle of a wall size window, the black bookcase in a corner. The white bed was pure. Even the rug has nothing to hide.

 

I’m the opposite.

 

I plopped on the couch, pulling my phone from my pocket. Who would be able to find my secrets, anyway? It’s not like I have friends. I clicked on YouTube, planning on watching vines and eventually starting dinner.

 

Yeah, I cook.

 

I eventually felt as if I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer, falling asleep into a void of fiery dreams.

Chapter 4

 

I awoke to a sound of breaking glass.

 

“Demetri, stop!”

 

I heard a sort of clanging sound, then Demetri bolted in here, terrified. I got worried since Demetri never really gets scared that much.

 

I started out the door, hoping to find a cát accident, but I found nothing. Not a single scratch anywhere. I decided to walk down the stairs to investigate further. Nothing. I looked at Demetri, wondering why she got so scared. She was fine now, laying on the banister.

 

I walked over to her and picked her up. I look out the window to see a sort of darkness. I held the insanely large cat up to the window. She matched the night sky better than the night sky itself.

 

I noticed there was a plate of pancakes on the counter, perfectly proportioned and perfectly cooked. I looked at the food skeptically, wondering who or what could have made it, and if whoever did was dangerous. I slowly walked towards it, then realized my stomach was aching for food.

 

I abruptly yanked the fork and started eating the delicious pancakes, savoring each bite. I hadn’t had pancakes since I was little. I miss this. I continued to wolf down the food, probably looking like a wolf myself.

 

I finished, and I rinsed the plate off, not realizing I was getting sleepier by the second. Yet, soon enough, I fell into a void muck blacker than Demetri.

I woke up in a dark room with a buzzing sound to my left. A fan maybe? I recognized all of my furniture, so I knew I hadn’t been kidnapped and then robbed, but something felt…different.

 

I stood from my bed, my memories flooding back to me. The pancakes. I opened my door and ran out, finding the entire house empty and accident-free. A dream, maybe?

No, I’m not in the least bit hungry.

 

“H-H-Hello?”

 

I cringed at my own lisp, terrified someone heard me. Maybe no one is here, but how would that explain the food? Did I cook before I fell asleep? No, someone was definitely here. I bolted down the stairs, hoping to find some sort of crook, but once I got downstairs all I saw was the front door shut.

 

I tiredly walked across the floor to the living room, realizing the tv was on. Did I leave it on? The house was completely silent when I got home. I took the remote and changed it to some 80’s cartoons.

 

I watched Tom And Jerry for a while and eventually got bored. I knew the house was rumored to have some mysterious room about it, and the only room I’m ever in upstairs is my room or the gaming room. So yeah, I don’t even know about my own house.

 

The whole reason I bought this house is because of the mystery, but I’m such a lazy bum and only researched it for a while. I walked up the stairs, going into a hallway. I