She was a portable riot looking for a place to happen. Autumn; the elegant gale wind that swept through my life at one end as gently as a lamb then blew out of the other with the roar of a lioness. From the very moment our eyes met our fates became inescapably entangled. The Classroom was 2 tons of excitement stuffed into a 10 pound bag on that bright October morning. Colorful Ghouls, Ghost, Witches and Vampires were pinned to various parts of the wall to ring in Halloween. It was a day of magic that gave an entire class of 2nd graders the power to summon alter egos and persona hidden deep within. No longer did children fill the large class room. It had become a hall of justice for leagues of Superheros, a great crypt for monsters and a holding cell for all types of natural and unnatural animals. The energy was raising to a shrill pitch as the parade drew closer and closer with each movement of the clock on the far wall. We could all hear the drums mixing with the clamor of talking parents and onlookers gathering outside.
The large, sugary, orange cookie sat on a napkin staring up at me. It was just a doppleganger that had taken the shape of a jack-o-lateran with a toothy grin from ear to ear. It was a weak attempt at deception. No matter what shape it took as a big red heart, a brown turkey, a green christmas tree or even a four leaf clover, it was still the same damn cookie tasting the same damn way. I sat amongst my fellow monsters, the only feral Werewolf surrounded by Jason, two Freddys, A dozen Vampires, and several other bizzare creatures. We we're planning our attack against the heroes at noon day recess, our numbers were large and our kung fu was strong. We knew they knew that we we're coming for them. Across the class they all sat with identical cookies the same as our own. 3 Supermen, a Batman and several other heroes whispered their plans to one another in conspiracy like tones.
Then the Universe threw a curve ball and tethered us to one another. A tall, East Indian man walked into class wearing a rather expensive looking suit. His skin was darker then even my own, which seemed strange considering I was told to mark "Black" when filling out survey's. He had thick eyebrows, a strong clean shaven chin and his jet black hair was tied back into a long tail. He walked through the class with his head held up and his back straight as an obviously proud man. Beside him with her small hand within his larger hand was a short, slender girl. Her skin was a soft shade of mocha, and she had thick, jet black hair just like her Father. It was tied up in a similar fashion but kept back out of her face by a deep red ribbon. She and her father walked pass our table but all the other children were too busy to pay much attention.
Our eyes met for a moment and we smiled a shy smile at one another. They continued through the class until they reached the large, deep mahogany desk of Miss Sanders. She was a young, attractive blonde who's passion for children made her physical beauty pale in compare. She rose from her desk dressed professionally in a deep blue blouse and a dark skirt highlighted by dark nylons. Her light blonde hair had been tied into a bun and her classes rested upon her nose when they shook hands and began speaking. I couldn't hear them over the class and I suddenly, desperately wanted to be known what was being said. The girl at his side looked around nervously with two, large brown eyes. After they had finished speaking her father kneeled kissing her on the head then speaking to her for a little while. Then as quickly as he entered, he briskly turned and left leaving the girl behind to join the class.
"Class." Miss Sanders called over the cacophony of plots, conversations and over all jubilation. All the eyes of the class room turned upon the little girl and our teacher. The weight of all those gazes made the girl's eyes tear up but her cheeks remained dry. "We have a new student, her name is Autumn Sita. Make her feel welcomed."
There came a song of giggles, hello's and other assortments of greetings. The excitement was much too much to hold everyone's attention and they all fell back to talking to one another. I couldn't look away from her as the teacher told her to find a seat before going back to her own desk to grade papers. Autumn looked around for several moments before she caught some sort of unseen and unheard beacon. Out of all the empty chairs of the class she some how found the one by me and took a seat.
"Hi." Autumn said nervously. When she spoke her slight, British accent was alien to my ears.
"Hi." I said back just as nervous. My Mother had taught me that you should smile when greeting others so I did as best I could.
"My name is Autumn." She said before smoothing out her blue dress lined with white lace. "What's yours?"
"Azazel." I blurted quickly. "But...but everybody calls me Zel."
"That's a funny name." Autumn laughed a little.
"Do you have a custom?" I asked curiously.
"No." Autumn said sadly. "We just moved here."