The Three Phases of Alienation
Author's Notes: "Dreams" has mild spoilers for Trees of Glass. The title was originally going to be either, "The Three Phases of Distinction" or "The Three Phases of Differentiation." But I decided to go with the pun instead.
And on a personal note, the very last part of "Recess" actually happened to me.
Recess
Lucas Pegg was different.
He was smaller then the other children. Not as strong. A penchant for running into walls before his optometrist had settled on a prescription.
But he was different in a more fundamental way.
It took him a while to realize it. Which goes to show that intelligence has less practical application then you’d think. When none of his classmates wanted to play with him, he tried hanging around the adults.
“Recess is a break for us, too.” His teacher would admonish, before giving him the firm suggestion that he go socialize with children his own age.
Jeopardy
He met Rachel on Jeopardy.
It’s not every day a man gives up seventy-four consecutive victories just to get a girl’s attention.
She cornered him backstage to ask if he’d let her win. He made a valiant effort to convince her that he had no idea what kind of hinge was used on a galvanized steel door.
One date turned into a dozen. When Lucas lost the Tournament of Champions by missing a question about the Jupiter probe, she assured him he didn’t have to try and get her attention.
She liked him, she’d said. Because he was different.
Dreams
It was like a forest, but the trees were made of glass. The air was still but for the soft sound of shattering.
And when the scene shifts, he’s relieved. At first. But the halls of the government building he’d only recently left are almost more ominous. He hears footsteps behind and turns to face himself.
It looked like him, except the eyes… they seemed lifeless. Dead.
“You think you’re different now?” Its voice resonated in an inhuman way. “You have no idea…”
It reached out quickly to wrap a hand like a vice around his throat.
“Not yet.”
