"You'd be lonely in a crowd," his grandmother used to say, patting him on the hand. He never knew if she meant it kindly or not.
But it's true.
He stands here, in this room full of people his age, some girls some boys, some neither one nor another, and he feels out of place. He feels as if he isn't like them.
Perhaps I'm an alien, he thinks, not for the first time.
Perhaps, that's why I can't connect with these other human beings.
Because I'm not one.
He catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror above the fireplace. He looks human.
At least as far as he can tell.
But, perhaps the others can tell there is something unhuman about him. Perhaps that is why there seems to be an invisible barrier around him that stops other people from approaching.
Kurt, one of the few people he knows who does speak to him, says that the barrier is of his own making.
"You have a force field," he says. "I sometimes feel it is like wading through thick jelly to get close to you."
Perhaps I am a jelly based alien, he thinks.
...
