White Noise
A Short, Short Story by Lo Brewer
THE WONDERFUL ALBNO FAMILY/ © PICRYL
Thomasina squinted at the crisp autumn leaves blowing in through the broken window, scattering about the room. She’d never had any friends thanks the condition that gifted her with translucent white skin and pink eyes. But somehow, on this night, she found herself sitting on the floor of an abandoned hunting shack, with three girls she’d encountered earlier while walking through the woods. She jumped when one of them, the one named Helen, leaned forward, and spat, “Truth or Dare?!”
Thomasina pushed back from the circle until she was pressed against the walls of the shack with her knees to her chin.
“It’s okay, don’t be scared,” the one named Belle said.
“Maybe she’s never heard of the game before. I mean, she is one of them,” Helen said.
“I’ve heard of the game,” Thomasina managed to say. It was a lie. But she didn’t want to seem ignorant.
“How about we let her go last so she can get the hang of it,” Belle proposed, and the two others agreed.
Thomasina breathed a sigh of relief. She looked around wondering how she’d come to be in this place, with these people. She was, as Helen so aptly put, one of them. And being one of them meant that she didn’t associate with outsiders.
The source of her people’s ancestry had been debated for centuries with most believing they were an amalgamation of several groups considered to be undesirable: Indigenous tribes, escaped slaves and prostitutes. They were said to be intellectually and even physically inferior due to generations of inbreeding. Some legend, however, painted them as almost magical beings, especially those of their kind with Thomasina’s special traits. The most common rumor of this last distinction was that her people were some type of all-knowing psychics. They could look at a person and know everything about them. This last rumor was the only one that held at least a bit of truth.
Thomasina’s condition, a condition that many of her people shared, left them on the receiving end of violence and torture at the hands of outsiders who didn’t understand their differences. Her people, derogatorily referred to as the Jackson Whites, avoided interacting with the townspeople at all costs, which further reinforced the legend surrounding them. The Jackson Whites learned how to become invisible. They camouflaged so well that they could be standing feet away from someone without their presence being detected. They used these camouflage skills to their advantage and watched the townspeople, quietly gathering information about them, information they would use to protect themselves from persecution. So even though they’d met for the first time earlier that night, Thomasina felt like she knew the girls intimately, having already watched them for many years.
“I’ll go first!” the one named Sarah said.
“Okay, ‘Truth’ or ‘Dare?’” Belle asked.
“’Dare!’” Sarah replied.
“Take off your shirt!” Helen said.
“Wait, no, can you give me another one?” Sarah asked.
“No, that’s not how it works!” said Helen, “You have to do it!”
“Well I’m not going to! I pick ‘Truth’ instead,” Sarah replied and folded her arms.
“Fine, what boys have you kissed?” Helen asked.
“That’s easy,” Sarah said. “There’s only one and it’s your older brother, Corey.
“No way! That’s not true!” Helen yelled. “Take it back!”
“It’s true,” Thomasina whispered.
“How would you know?” Helen asked. But Thomasina didn’t respond.
“I’ll go next,” Belle said. “I pick ‘Dare!’”
“I dare you to kiss…her,” Sarah said pointing at Thomasina.
“No problem,” Belle said. She crawled over to Thomasina, closed her eyes and placed a sweet, soft kiss on her lips, making sure to linger for a minute.
“It’s almost like you enjoyed that,” Helen said.
“No way!” Belle exclaimed.
“Lie,” Thomasina whispered.
“What?” Helen asked.
“Nothing,” Thomasina replied.
“Okay, it’s my turn and I pick ‘Truth,’” Helen said.
“Who is your crush?” Belle asked.
“Duh, Brian Alexander. He’s literally everyone’s crush,” Helen said with an eye roll.
“Lie,” Thomasina said under her breath. Only Helen heard her, but she chose not to confront her about it.
“It’s your turn Tommy,” Helen said.
“Thomasina,” she said correcting her. “’Truth’ please.”
“I’ve got a question for you,” Helen said leaning in, “Is it true that you Jackson Whites are psychic? That you know things about people? That you’re magic?”
“That’s three questions. But I’ll answer with this: You,” Thomasina said pointing at Sarah, “You wouldn’t pull up your shirt because you have scars on your body that you’re ashamed about. You,” she said pointing at Belle, “You did like that kiss. You kiss girls all the time. And you,” she said pointing at Helen, “You don’t have a crush on Brian Alexander. You’ve got a crush on your brother and that’s why you were so mad at Sarah for kissing him.”
The girls quickly exchanged looks then ran out of the shack. Thomasina single handedly ruined her chance at making friends. Her ignorance on the subject led her to believe that by revealing their truths, the things they were most embarrassed by, they would see they were no different than her. But they couldn’t push past the white noise of their own shame to give her and themselves the one thing they all desperately needed, a friend.
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