Calling all Angels -Open-

[Kieran De la Paz]

Tell me did you fall for a shooting star
one without a permanent scar
and did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there

You know that feeling when you awaken and you’re not entirely sure of where you are? Well its about five times as worse when you can’t see where you are to acclimate yourself. After a minute of groggy contemplation the fairly average dark haired boy put his feet on the cold stone floor and remembered he was at Hogwarts. At first this evoked a joy, the kind that only places associated with good memories can. And then the dread settled in. With leaden steps he stumbled to prepare himself for the day. After he had splashed himself to life with frigid water, brushed his teeth and the other mundane motions of preparing for the day, he grabbed his i-pod, thinking of how stereotypical it was for him as a teenager to survive this day through music. One of his favourite blues songs played and the nerdy boy did about a minute and a half of solo blues dancing before he was ready to take on the day.

As he stepped out of the castle a gentle breeze met him. It had the feeling of one of those perfect days- a few clouds in the piercing blue sky, a happy day. He made his way over to the grounds keepers place where his seeing eye dog, Nemo had spent the night. Kieran was finding that he remembered the school grounds surprisingly well. He needed very little help remember where to go or how to get there. He had been so sure of himself that he declined using his helpful cane to navigate while going to see his best friend. The black lab greeted him with a slobbery lick which automatically made him smile. He played for a while with Nemo but decided that today he was going to go off and face the loneliness and challenges that were to come.

Plugging his headphones back in, he unfolded his cane and made his way towards the Whomping Willow. He had always liked the tree for some reason, though he wasn’t really sure why. He plopped on the ground a safe distance, but close enough to recognize the sound of the violent tree, occasionally the changing shadows would dance across his field of vision. He had unplugged one of his headphones to be able to listen for anything or anyone that may approach. His other ear took him to a happy place as the song “Only the Good Die young” floated through his ear around his heart, through his veins and into his soul, making its presence known by his tapping foot. Mostly Kieran was scared. He didn’t know what it would be like coming back to school. Would anyone remember him? He’d been gone three years, was entering into classes the year below where he had been. Could he just be himself? And what if he couldn’t keep up. Yes, he had learned how to read braille, and how to transform any text book into one with braille.. but there was so much to magic- to the normal kind that most people did, the way that they taught and learned that used visualization. Could he keep up? Most of all he dreaded the possible solitude of starting all over again.