Light ► JACKSON AVERY

chapter five

LAYNE WAS KIND. To everybody, even if they didn't deserve it. She had always been like that. Her mother had raised her to be a kind and compassionate person. However, the tolerance against mean people had been built up so high that Layne simply smiled whenever someone uttered a mean word to her. One time when Layne was young — maybe around 7 or 8 years old — there was this boy in her class. He was the popular one, the one all the girls seemed to have a little crush on.

Layne, however, not really. He always disrupted class with his loud voice, trying to make everyone laugh. She just wanted to pay attention and be the best student there was. She didn't even know what the other girls of her class saw in him. Even some of her friends were yelling that they wanted to marry him. Layne would always laugh and shake her head.

Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, that boy came walking up to her during recess. She had been outside, playing a game with her friends. His tiny hand had grabbed a hold of Layne's ponytail and he yanked on it, pretty hard. Layne started crying out of surprise. The boy stood there, looking at her and the next words out of his mouth weren't an apology, but "You're so ugly. I'm glad that you don't like me, because I don't like you."

Layne's lip had quivered, as she listened to him insult her. Her friends had tried to drag her away, but the boy wouldn't let her. "Aren't you going to say anything? It's really rude to not reply back to me, you know." Not wanting to upset him like he had done to her, Layne had even apologized to him, before she had followed her friends.

It didn't stop there. Over the years, the boy seemed to stick to Layne, annoying her wherever she went, pushing her buttons and crossing the lines so many times. Layne, however, had said nothing, only smiled and tried to pretend he wasn't there. She knew that she should say something, but whenever the moment arraised, she simply couldn't. She didn't want to seem like a mean person.

She didn't want to be a problem in anyone's life.

Funny thing was that the boy had a crush on her. That had been the way he thought would grab her attention and make her like him. Little did he know that it had the opposite effect. When he had told her, on the last day of classes, Layne had looked him dead in the eyes and said "I'm sorry." before she walked away.

"I love you so, so much, miss Laynie. I want to marry you one day." A young boy beamed, with a huge smile on his face. One of his front teeth was missing, after having fallen out. Layne sat on the side of his bed, matching his smile with her own. His curly brown hair fell over his eyes as he leaned forward to hug the nurse. A fluffy teddy bear was caught in between them.

Whenever Layne had a break, she liked to come up to the pediatrics ward. It was a happy place with sunshines and rainbows and magic. Layne really liked it there. It made her forget about the dreary things of life. The children loved her there. They would ask about her from time to time, Arizona Robbins had even said.