I Live in Binary Worlds

"I live in binary worlds,"

The words caught Sophia's attention and her gaze flickered upwards onto Lizzy. Lizzy stood by a window, gazing out into the fiery sunset. The soft sunlight spilled onto half of her face, illuminating her silvery blonde hair and deep, sea blue eyes. The other half of Lizzy's face was hidden in the shadows. Standing there, she looked like a ghost, barely moving except for her lips when she spoke.

"One world is normal," her soft melodic voice was barely a whisper but was still enough in the deathly silence of the cramped little room. "The other... I don't quite know how to describe it."

Lizzy's long hair framed her face and flowed over her ears, hiding them away from the rest of the world. For the first time, Sophia realised how self-conscious and shy Lizzy was. She was a secretive person who preferred to keep herself to herself. She avoided other people, making herself mysterious to the others and faded into the background where she couldn't be seen.

Sophia glanced around the room, observing the cluttered desks, some marked with little drawings and words written in pencil. The classroom was dark, save for the golden sunlight which clambered in through the windows. Outside, the autumn leaves whispered in the air, murmuring to one another as they glided to the ground. Sophia's unfinished creative writing project was laid out upon one of the desks nearby, abandoned until Sophia could think of an idea. Sophia had to finish her project by the end of the week otherwise she would miss the deadline.

Lizzy turned to face Sophia, her deep blue eyes sorrowful and haunting. They were the type of eyes, Sophia thought, that people could easily become lost in. Lizzy's eyes were almost like a deep endless ocean, an ocean of never ending sadness that pulled you in the moment you gazed into them. Goosebumps prickled Sophia's skin and she shivered as she thought Lizzy's haunting eyes and the cold rough seas swallowing her into its depths, never to be seen again.

“The other…” whispered Lizzy, “has no sound.”

Sophia frowned. How could she live in binary worlds? There was no such thing.

“In my world,” Lizzy’s poignant stare dropped to the floor, “Dragons abound.”

She ran her graceful, slender fingers along the surface of a desk beside her like a fish through water.

“No one tells me what to do,” she murmured, “I’m the king and the queen; the prince and the princess; the evil wizard and the light in the darkness. I can build my own lands with the tools of my mind.”

“What do you mean?” Sophia asked.

Lizzy suddenly looked up from the floor with a frown on her face. Her elegant eyebrows met in the middle of her forehead with a slight crease in between. Her haunting eyes had become stormy seas, rough and full of anger with lightning and thunder. Her lips were parted slightly, giving her the image of an irate sea goddess.

“Don’t speak to me slowly,” she said, “I’m deaf, not stupid.”

A rushing heat began to spread through Sophia’s cheeks as she reddened in embarrassment. She watched Lizzy suddenly reach behind her ears, lifting up the hair covering them. For a split second, Sophia caught a flash of silver upon Lizzy’s ears but within a few moments, it was over.

“I have two wondrous little switches by each ear,” Lizzy’s eyes had become calm, no longer the furious oceans they once were. “When I switch them to off, it all becomes clear.”

Sophia listened, fascinated. Perhaps this could be an idea for her creative writing project.

Lizzy turned so that her back faced Sophia. Silence entered the room, its long fingers tenderly winding themselves onto Sophia and Lizzy, gently prising them both apart. The silence shattered, fleeing the room and through the windows at Lizzy’s words. They were so soft that Sophia just about caught them.

“This is how I am different,” she spoke softly, “Different from you.”

Lizzy faced the window again, the orange sunlight once more illuminating her silvery blonde hair and haunting, deep sea blue eyes. Once more, she became a ghost, lost in the world of reality and in her own.