Welcome to the Family
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By Lydia Colvin
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“Now get in groups and dissect this piece. Really try to find the themes and tone. Go ahead, don’t be shy!”
Lyra hated group work. She sat still in her seat, gazing awkwardly around the room at the groups of people that had formed so quickly.
“Hey, do you mind if I work with you?” said a voice from behind Lyra.
The girl had long, black hair falling over a faded black choker that rimmed her neck, drawing attention up to her eyes that were covered with white contacts and painted black around the edges. Her Whitechapel shirt, destroyed jeans, and Slipknot backpack drew her even further apart from the rest of the crowd of teenagers. Lyra, in her modest, light-blue shirt and immaculate jeans, envied this girl.
“Um, no, come on over,” Lyra said sheepishly.
“Great! I don’t understand what Miller wants from us, honestly. I can’t pinpoint just one theme in this damn piece. Oh… Sorry, my name is Kallysta. Call me Kal. I’ve seen you around before, but it’s nice to actually meet you!”
Lyra just stared at her, flabbergasted that this tiny woman could have so much to say.
“I-I’m Lyra. Nice to meet you.”
“Great! Now, could you tell me what the hell we’re supposed to be looking for in this piece?”
“Yeah, I can, but–“
“Alright, class, that’s all for today,” Ms. Miller yelled over the bell signaling to the adolescent sheep that they were to be herded to their next class. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”
As Lyra gathered her things, Kallysta asked, “Would you want to walk to class with me? I mean, I know you like walking alone, but you’re pretty cool.”
Shy as always, yet excited that she could actually make new friends, Lyra replied, “Yeah, sure, let’s go.”
As they walked to the next class, Kallysta was greeted by at least five other individuals, all wearing dark, ripped clothing. They all waved to Lyra as though she were an old friend, not a random girl who stuck out among the group with her studious appearance. She enjoyed the attention.
From that day forward, Kallysta and Lyra were always partners in English. Her intellect had gained her a friend instead of forcing her to lose one, which was the opposite of what normally happened; she was surprised, but she wasn’t going to complain.
“Hey, dude, do you want to come over to my house today?” Kallysta asked, poking Lyra on the shoulder so as not to startle her, for she knew how skittish her friend was.
“Of course!” Lyra replied.
In all honesty, Lyra hadn’t been to a friend’s house since middle school, since she trusted few people. But she and this dark girl had become great friends, so she decided to give it a try.
As she walked across the threshold and followed Kallysta’s small figure up the narrow staircase to the room covered in posters and devoid of most light save for a small lamp, for the first time in a while she was happy.
Kallysta strode over to a large sound system that sat in the corner of the room and blasted some music. Some man was singing in a whiny, interesting voice while the guitarists dueled. The drumming was the part that stood out, though. The drummer seemed to be playing as fast as he possibly could, occasionally adding odd patterns and rhythms.
“It’s Avenged Sevenfold!” Kal screamed over the music in response to Lyra’s quizzical look.
The straight-laced stick in the mud loved it, laughing and headbanging with her new best friend.
That had been six years ago. The light from the bonfire’s flames danced across Lyra’s face as she sat on a tree stump in the backyard of Kallysta’s house surrounded by people she loved laughing and talking. She sat on the sidelines content with observing, just as she was when she first met her best friend. It had been a long time since she had felt this sense of belonging; she hadn’t been surrounded by her true family since their last gathering two years ago. The woman who wore a choker matching Lyra’s, the girl who wore it first, glanced over at her friend, yelling over the chaos, “I love you, man, you know that? Thank you for coming; I missed you like hell!”
Lyra laughed and yelled back, “I love you, man! Thank you for letting me come over!”
After a while, she motioned to her friend across the bonfire, gesticulating wildly and asking permission to get away for a bit. Kallysta responded in her typical, loud fashion, yelling, “You want to go to my room? Yeah, man, go for it!”
Lyra shook her head and laughed, surrendering her seat to one of the many newcomers that had arrived once the bonfire had gotten in full swing.
When she ascended the steps and entered Kal’s room, she closed the door. She looked in the mirror that hung on the closet door and thought about how the Lyra of six years ago was almost totally erased. Staring back at her was a confident girl dressed in black with black rings around her eyes and combat boots on her feet. The only thing that remained of the mousy girl of six years ago was the cross necklace she wore around her neck, just below her choker. Kallysta had given her what no one else ever had — a life that she wanted to live. Her induction into the family of outcasts was the best thing that had ever happened to her.
She looked out of the window at her friends down below smiling. She lay on the floor of the small room, fixating her eyes on the posters on the ceiling. The last thing she saw before she fell asleep was a blue poster covered in a group of happy skeletons reading “Welcome to the Family.” She drifted off, content for the first time in ages.